


Once In A Lifetime: Arc 1 - Flower Lanterns

by xichaguan



Series: Once In A Lifetime ~ A Ximen and Xiaoyou Fairytale [1]
Category: Hana Yori Dango & Related Fandoms, 流星花園 | Meteor Garden (TV 2018)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Drama, Drama & Romance, F/M, Family Drama, Fluff and Humor, Friendship, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-31
Updated: 2018-09-16
Packaged: 2019-07-04 23:49:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 28,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15851946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xichaguan/pseuds/xichaguan
Summary: Ximen and Xiaoyou facing 1st challenges in their relationship. XY is facing the reality how different Ximen's world is than hers. XM is trying to find entrance to her world.





	1. Colorful Love

**Author's Note:**

> "Flower Lanterns" is the 1st Arc of the "Once in a Lifetime" series which is a Ximen and Xiaoyou love story post-Meteor Garden 2018. "Once in a Lifetime" consists 5 XiYou arcs.

"Ximen, you missed your once-in-a-lifetime chance, it's your problem. But this is OUR once-in-a-lifetime chance now. I don't wanna miss it!" she went forward and kissed him.

Xiaoyou felt a tingly feeling on her neck, back, all other parts of her body, that she cannot explain, when Ximen grabbed her waist and kissed her back passionately. But she was sure it was not the rooftop wind. She felt like she floated on the clouds in the sky. Indescribable happiness. 

As they parted their lips to catch their breath, she asked him, "Ximen... I love you... do you love me?"  
Ximen nod, "I love you..." in a faint, gentle voice.  
Xiaoyou couldn't believe what she heard, "Really!? You love me? So, we can be together?" her face beaming with a bright smile.  
He stared at her face with a deep gaze, then he kissed her deeply.  
After a few seconds, she parted her lips away from his, "Is that a yes?"  
Ximen did not answer, he looked like he's hesitating, "Xiaoyou... but you must know I'm..."  
"I know... you're afraid of love... I'm afraid too! But we just have to work hard and fight for it together. You won't be alone in this. I'm here with you," they pressed their foreheads against each other.  
"Xiaoyou, please be patient with me..."  
"I don't care how long it will take for you to overcome this fear, but our love worth the risk, don't you think so?" she looked at him in the eyes.  
"You're right... let's be together..."  
She felt her heart bursting with overload happiness, "Really!? Ximen!" she hugged his neck tight. 

He pulled away and kissed her again. He has been longing for a kiss with her for a long time. He had been holding back himself. But it seems like the brakes in him have stopped working and he can't control himself anymore. 

Xiaoyou parted herself away to catch a breath, and giggled, "Ximen, slow down..."  
"I--I'm sorry... did I hurt you?"  
She smiled widely, "No, of course not!"  
He smiled and caressed her cheek gently.  
She looked up to him sweetly, "So, I'm your girlfriend now?"  
He smirked, "Yes, you are now officially Xi Men Yan's girlfriend,"  
She squealed, "I can't believe it!" she jumped on him high enough for her to wrap his waist with her legs.  
Ximen caught her thighs with his arms and carried her whole weight on his arms and waist. He laughed, "You scared me!"  
"Ximen! I'm so happy!" her arms hugged his neck tightly, she kissed his forehead.  
"Xiaoyou... wait, wait..."  
"What?"  
"You're wearing a short skirt?"  
"So?"  
"So I'm now accidentally touching your underwear..."  
Xiaoyou gasped and jumped down, "Oh my god! I totally forgot!!" her face flushed with embarrassment.  
Ximen laughed, "The second I become your boyfriend and you let me touch your underwear, you're unbelievable!"  
Xiaoyou laughed out loud, "I'm a weirdo like that! Be patient with me!"

~*~

_You bravely pulled me from the dark..._

~*~

Shan Cai and Xiao You stopped by at a diner after they finished work. They ordered some juice.

"So, Daoming Si is coming too?" Xiaoyou asked while drinking her juice with a straw.  
"Yup, he's picking me up. Is Ximen driving you home?" Shancai asked while looking at the menu, thinking of what to eat.  
Xiaoyou is smiling meaningfully, "No, we are going for a date..."  
"A date!? It's 9pm now!"  
Xiaoyou nod happily.  
"Where are you going this late??"  
"It's not late... we can stroll around the city, enjoying the beautiful lights," Xiaoyou answered matter-of-factly.  
They heard the diner's entrance opened and saw their respective partners coming toward them.  
Xiaoyou waved, "Over here!"  
Daoming Si and Ximen head over their table. They took seat next to their respective loved ones as soon as they reached the table.  
Ximen stared at Xiaoyou deeply, and smiled "Xiaoyou, I missed you," he kissed her passionately.  
Shan Cai is shocked, "Hey hey hey! This is a public place! Ximen, don't just kiss her in the open air like this! Are you a pig!?"  
Ximen and Xiaoyou stopped kissing and turned to her.  
Ximen smiled, "I haven't met her in three days,"  
Xiaoyou giggled, "Shancai, showing love in public is not a bad thing, you should try with Daoming Si,"  
Daoming Si put his arm around Shancai's neck, "Here, let me kiss you now,"  
"Dao Ming Si! I'm warning you! If you do it, you can sleep on the couch tonight!"  
Ah Si wrinkled his forehead, "Why are you so against this?? Don't you want to show your love for your husband?"  
"This is a different matter! I'm just saying there is something you can do and cannot do in the society, we need to know the boundaries and learn the right manner, kissing in public place is not pretty for other people to see---"  
Before Shancai realized, Ximen and Xiaoyou were already deeply kissing each other again since she started her lecture.  
Shan Cai is furious. She stood and hit Ximen's arm, "Hey, hey, get off of her!!"  
"Ow it hurts!" Ximen grabbed his arm.  
Xiaoyou caressed Ximen's arm, "Shancai, don't hurt my boyfriend,"  
Ah Si pulled Shancai back to her seat, "Stop itt.... let them be... why are you acting like a 60 year old auntie? Ximen, go on!"  
Xiaoyou giggled while covering her mouth, "Daoming Si, you sound like Ximen's supportive dad,"  
"Whatever, I need something to eat, I'm starving!" Ah Si looked around finding the waiter.  
"Xiaoyou, do you wanna eat here or we move somewhere else?" Ximen asked.  
Xiaoyou glanced at Shancai and turned to Ximen, smiling mischievously, "Let's move..."  
Ximen turned to the other couple, "Okay, we are leaving!"  
Ximen grabbed Xiaoyou's hand and dragged her out of the table.  
Shan Cai doesn't look happy, "Where are you taking her?"  
"Do I have to ask for your permission, Xiaoyou's mom?" he put his arm around Xiaoyou's shoulder.  
Ah Si shoo-ing them, "Just go go go leave us alone!"  
Xiaoyou cling onto Ximen, "Shancai, we are just gonna have a late dinner, okay?"  
"Bye guys!" Ximen pulled Xiaoyou away heading for the exit.  
"Bye mom, bye dad!" Xiaoyou waved while giggling.  
"Make sure you bring her home before ten!" they could hear Shancai's voice faintly.  
As they reached Ximen's car, he asked her, "What do you feel like eating?"  
"I want super spicy mapo doufu!" she answered excitedly.  
"Mapo doufu!? Uhh..."  
"What? You don't like spicy dishes?"  
Ximen sighed.  
"You don't like bitter taste, spicy taste, Xi Men Yan, are you a man!?" she laughed.  
"I eat spicy stuff! Just not too much... okay, let's go, I know a place,"

~*~

_You're making my life so colorful..._

~*~

"Here, taste it," Xiaoyou stretched out a spoonful of her extra spicy mapo doufu.  
Ximen frowned.  
"Come on! Just one spoon, what are you so afraid of?"  
He reluctantly pushed the spoon into her mouth and immediately regretted it. He grabbed his water and coughed, "Xiaoyou, seriously, what is your tongue made of!?"  
She giggled, "It tastes delicious to me," she's finishing her dish.  
"How's your work?"  
"Oh, right! Ximen, I was going to ask for your help,"  
"What is it?"  
"I'm thinking of coming up with herbal milk tea idea for the shop, and suggest it to our shop owner, can you help me with a few ideas?"  
"Herbal milk tea, huh, sounds interesting,"  
"Yeah, I'd like to add 'health' to our selling point, what do you think?"  
"I didn't know you're so smart and takes initiative like this,"  
"You underestimated me? Tea is my passion, of course, I can take initiative like this, especially when it comes to a tea guy," she smiled mischievously.  
"Yes, I completely surrendered to you, Xiaoyou,"  
She giggled. Ximen loves hearing her giggles, it's like healing music to his ears and he wishes he can hear it all day.  
"I'll take you to our shop's warehouse where we have all the tea samples, then we can discuss together, when are you free?"  
"Mmh... I only have one class on Wednesday..."  
"Sure, Wednesday's okay for me," he nod.  
"Okay,"  
"Do you still wanna go see the city view from the 8th floor's open space of this building? I think that floor is closing in 30 minutes," he asked her.  
"Yes, let's go!" she nod excitedly.  
After Ximen scanned the payment barcode with the waitress, they both head for the exit together. A tall, beautiful, sexy lady entered the restaurant just as they were about to go out.  
"Ximen!?" she looked surprised and happy to see him, "How are you!? It's been a long time!" she kissed his cheek near his lips.  
Xiaoyou was taken aback to see that.  
Ximen pulled away from the lady, "Ohh, Cindy, hi... how are you?"  
"Why have you never called me again since two months ago?" she asked in a seductive tone.  
Xiaoyou cringed.  
Ximen bitterly smiled, "Ahh.... err..."  
She finally noticed Xiaoyou, "Oh, I'm sorry, are you on a date with this girl? Okay, okay, I'll call you again next time, bye!" she left them in a hurry.  
Xiaoyou feel something boiling inside her. But she forced a smile on her face. Angry smile.  
Ximen noticed her anger, "You know I will definitely NOT pick up a phone call from her, right?"  
She didn't answer and walked out.  
Ximen sighed, "Xiaoyou... wait,"

~*~

_True love never runs smooth... ___

__~*~_ _

__(to be continued)_ _


	2. Plastic Ship

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Xiaoyou feel bothered...

Xiaozi arrived at Xiaoyou's Talent's Tea Shop branch just 30 minutes before it's opened. She was surprised to see so many flowers leaving the shop almost with no space and it looks like Xiaoyou and Shancai are moving them to the staff room.  
"Whoa! These flowers are so beautiful!" as Xiaozi entered the shop.  
"Xiaozi! Why are you here?" Shancai is happy to see her.  
"I told Xiaoyou, I'd visit this shop today, I haven't had the chance to congratulate her for this shop's opening and her manager job,"  
"Oh really!"  
Xiaoyou smiled happily, "Xiaozi, thanks so much for coming!"  
"Aren't these too much for your shop decoration?" Xiaozi looked and touched the flowers.  
Shancai laughed, "These are from Ximen, not decoration"  
"Wow, what's the occasion? Your anniversary with him?" Xiaozi giggled.  
Xiaoyou sighed, "No, it's not..." she carried another flower bouquet to the back.  
Shancai told Xiaozi, "It's apology flowers,"  
"Apology flowers?? What happened?"  
"He made her upset, obviously, but I haven't heard the whole story from her either,"  
Xiaozi chuckled, "Okay let me help you to move these flowers,"  
Once they're done moving all the flowers, Xiaoyou served milk tea for all of them to drink while waiting for the shop's open time. Xiaoyou told them what happened to them the other night.  
"Oh... what else is new," Shancai rolled her eyes.  
"Are you jealous with that lady?" Xiaozi asked.  
"No, I'm not... it's the fact he didn't introduce me to the lady at all and tell her that I'm his girlfriend now... is what bothers me..."  
"He didn't do that? Did you ask him why?" Shancai asked.  
Xiaoyou nod, "He said the lady left them in a hurry, no chance for him to introduce me,"  
"What an excuse!!"  
Xiaoyou frowned, "Actually... this is not the first time... three times already we coincidentally met different women he know who'd suddenly kiss him on the cheek, when he was together with me..."  
Xiaozi laughed, "Three times!? Ximen must have slept with most of the women in Shanghai!!"  
"Xiaozi!!" Shancai jabbed her with her elbow, "And he didn't introduce you three times!?"  
Xiaoyou sighed and nod. She rest her chin on the table looking like she has no energy.  
"Xiaoyou, you know these girls doesn't mind him dating other girls right? It doesn't really matter for them even if he introduce you," Xiaozi said matter-of-factly.  
Xiaoyou turned to Xiaozi and let her cheek rest on the table, "I know! But I want to be acknowledged as his girlfriend, I want him to tell them, I have a girlfriend that I love now, so I'm sorry, but I won't call you anymore... is that hard for him to do?"  
Shancai and Xiaozi are left speechless, they don't know what to say to her anymore, both of them had never date a playboy before, so they're not sure what kind of useful advice they could give Xiaoyou.  
"Or, it might have got something to do with the norms in nightlife... I wish I know..." Xiaoyou said again.  
"I just started drinking in the bar and learning about this nightlife... but I'm a rookie at this, I wish I have something more useful to tell you," Xiaozi told her.  
"What? You're drinking now??" Shancai looked surprised.  
"Just occassionally, Meizuo is teaching me how to drink,"  
Xiaoyou widened her eyes, "You're going out with Meizuo now?"  
"We're just drinking buddies! Nothing to be surprised of," she laughed.  
Xiaoyou and Shancai looked and smiled at each other.  
"Hey! What are you two smiling for!? Meizuo and me are really just friends!"  
"Okay, okay, just friends, we believe you," they giggled.  
Xiaozi rolled her eyes. She's not happy they think there is something going on between her and Meizuo.  
Someone knocked the entrance, "Excuse me! Is Ms. Jiang Xiaoyou here?"  
They saw a delivery guy carrying a huge teddy bear and a heart-shaped balloon.  
Xiaoyou got off the seat and opened the entrance, "Yes? That's me,"  
"Here's an express delivery for you, ma'am, can you please sign here?"  
"Okay, thank you,"  
Xiaoyou signed and accepted the teddy bear and the balloon. There's an envelope attached to the teddy bear.  
"Wahh.... Ximen is really all out, huh?" Xiaozi smiled.  
"Shancai, please read this for me..." Xiaoyou handed over the envelope.  
Shancai laughed, "Are you sure?" she opened the envelope, and cleared her throat, "Dear Xiaoyou, My Love... My heart is in pain when you are unhappy. Please forgive me. I hope we are still meeting on Wednesday?"  
Shancai and Xiaozi are smiling, glancing at Xiaoyou who is sighing for the hundredth times.

~*~

_This is where we got to know each other for the first time..._

~*~

It's Wednesday. Ximen said he'll be waiting for her at her campus lobby. As she was about to reach the lobby, she could see a crowd of girls around Ximen... as always. Some of them are her classmates. They know him from the time he was a guest speaker before in her history class. Some of them are students from other batch whom probably joined as they were passing by. 

Xiaoyou is feeling unamused. She is seriously thinking of just leaving since it'll probably take forever for Ximen to notice that she is already in the lobby. But, Ximen immediately noticed her.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I have to leave now. See you again," he said to the girls.  
"Wait, may I have your weibo ID?" one of the girls asked.  
Ximen pretend he didn't hear that and head over to Xiaoyou.

"Hi!" Ximen feel so happy to see her again ever since that night.  
Xiaoyou smiled, "Hi,"  
"Is everything okay, are you ready?"  
Xiaoyou nod, "Um,"  
Ximen grabbed her hand, "I parked my car outside,"  
Xiaoyou didn't care enough to see her surrounding, but somehow she could feel the jealousy gaze heat around her, as Ximen held her hand.  
She'd normally be so happy when Ximen initiate to hold her hand, but she can't feel the same way now. She feel great unresolved feeling inside her. It complicated her feelings for him right now.

As they reached Ximen's car, he asked her, "Are you still mad at me?"  
Xiaoyou weakly smiled, "No.. I'm not,"  
"Did you like the gifts I send you?"  
"Yes, very much, they are so lovely, thank you, Ximen" she smiled.  
Ximen could feel that her smile is sincere but it lacks the usual energy that Xiaoyou has.  
He sighed in relief, "I'm so glad you like it, I got notice from the delivery agency that you have accepted my gifts, but I heard nothing from you about it, and you only texted me that Wednesday is okay. I thought you hate them,"  
Xiaoyou shook her head, "No, thank you, Ximen, really, I like your gifts a lot,"  
"I'm glad. Okay, I have thought about a few ideas for your herbal milk tea. I've got some samples in our storage room,"  
Xiaoyou nod and smiled, "Okay, can't wait! Thank you, Ximen,"

Some of the staff greeted him when they arrived at his family's herbal tea shop. Ximen continued to lead Xiaoyou the way to the storage room. He pulled down a few boxes from the shelves and handed over a few tea bags to Xiaoyou.

"Here's chrysanthemum... I recommend this the most since it's the most popular and would go with milk the most."  
"Oh... Okay," Xiaoyou accepted the tea bags.  
"This is lavender, osmanthus... I don't recommend this much for milk tea, but they are quite popular herb tea..." Ximen looked at Xiaoyou.  
She doesn't look like she is enthusiastic about this. It bothers him.  
"Oh there's Globe Amaranth flower too which has a pleasant, sweet taste... you can try mix it with milk, but I'm not sure---"  
Xiaoyou is still looking like not herself, so Ximen stopped talking.  
"Okay, give me the tea bags... you are obviously not up for this..." Ximen took away the tea bags in her hands.  
"What... no, no, Ximen, what do you mean?" she's taken aback.  
He put them all inside one of the boxes and he placed the boxes on one of the shelves randomly.  
"Xiaoyou, you're not here. Your mind is somewhere else. Care to tell me what's it about?"  
She looked at him for a few seconds. She sighed.  
"I'm just disappointed at myself..."  
"Why?"  
"Because I can't understand you..."  
"What do you mean?"  
She looked at him and hesitated whether or not she should tell him honestly.  
She felt like she need to sit down so she sit on the floor, leaning her back against the shelf.  
"Okay, I'm gonna be honest with you..." she said.  
"What is it?" Ximen sit right next to her.  
"I don't understand... why you wouldn't introduce me as your girlfriend, to those women who were your dates before,"  
Ximen made an "Oh..." face and sighed a bit.  
"We coincidentally met different ones three times already, Ximen... it bothers me..."  
It looks like Ximen is thinking on how to explain to her.  
"Will you be honest with me?" she asked.  
"Right... okay... you're right, I have to tell you the truth..." he nod.  
Xiaoyou is waiting for him to continue.  
"I didn't want to introduce you to them as my girlfriend... because I didn't want to drag you into something messy... things will get complicated if they know you're my girlfriend..."  
Xiaoyou wrinkled her forehead, "You mean?"  
"They might harrass you..."  
"What?"  
Ximen nod.  
"You mean, they will be jealous of me?"  
"Yes..."  
"Wait a minute... I thought, these women doesn't mind you going out with other women? They were just dates, right?"  
"Yes, you're right... but things got ugly between them too..."  
Xiaoyou can't seem to comprehend what he is trying to say.  
"For example.... I went out with these two women in different times, who happen to be colleagues at the same workplace... I did not know that, I knew later on about it. Then, one of them stole the other's work idea and got promoted... or something like that.... there's this rivalry thing going on after they knew I went out with both of them..." Xiaoyou could feel he was trying to carefully choose his words to explain about the situation.  
"In other words, it's like the Emperor's harem we often see in TV dramas, where the concubines would greet and smile to each other but they are all trying to steal the Emperor's attention to be his favorite, and secretly pour poison to the other's drink!?" Xiaoyou is suddenly very clear about the situation.  
"THAT is an exaggeration! ...but, it's kinda the light version of that..."  
Xiaoyou threw her forehead to her own hand's palm, "Oh god... Ximen... you caused troubles to these women's lives..."  
"I told you, I'm not a good man," Ximen sighed and hung his head low.  
She turned to him, "So you didn't tell them I'm your girlfriend, to protect me?"  
"Yeah..." he nod, "I'm worried they'd harrass you with phone call pranks, and other things..."  
Xiaoyou bitterly laughed. She's not sure of what to feel. But she got her answer and she feel relieved for that.  
"Look... those women are all in the past... you are the only one visible in my eyes, right now, Xiaoyou... will you trust me?"  
She turned to him, smiled and nod firmly, "Um! I trust you!"  
Ximen had never felt so relieved, "You do? Oh... you scared me!"  
She chuckled, "What? What do you mean?"  
"I thought you won't forgive me! I was so scared!"  
"That's silly... you know I'm not the easily jealous type, I just need a bit of an answer, that's all," she giggled.  
"I don't know, you're so hard to figure out... You even didn't like the gifts I delivered to you, did you? I can tell!"  
"Ximen, for me... flowers and gifts will make me happy for occassions and celebrations... but it's not the solution to problems..." she told him honestly.  
"Oh sheesh... you're right... I feel so stupid now," he held his head with both hands.  
Xiaoyou giggled, "Its okay... I do really love those gifts though... it's just that it didn't make me feel better,"  
"I'm sooo sorry, Xiaoyou... I don't know why, it doesn't seem I can think straight or rational enough, when it comes to you..."  
Xiaoyou can't help but to smile widely, "Really?? You can't think straight when you're thinking of me?"  
"It's stupid, isn't it?"  
"It is! It's stupid! But it's okay... love makes us stupid, Ximen," she put her arms around his neck, "I'm so happy you cannot be rational when you think of me... now I know your love for me is real!"  
"Really? You're happy with that?"  
Xiaoyou nod a few times.  
"Then, should we kiss now? Our lips are just one milimetre away..." Ximen smirked.  
She grinned, "You go first or I go--?"

She was interrupted because Ximen already chewed her lips with his. He started with a gentle and sweet 'I love you' kiss, but he is gradually kissing her deeper and vigorously like he is hungry. He grabbed her back and pressed her onto the floor. She lost her balance and her arm hit and shook the shelf. A few boxes fell off and one of the biggest boxes was tilted and it dropped the tea bags inside. All the tea bags inside the big box poured down on them like a rain. They stopped kissing and laughed for a while.

"Oops..." Xiaoyou giggled, "What are we gonna do?"

Ximen stared at her deeply and smiled, "I guess, we'll take care of it later, first thing's first..."

Ximen is back focusing all his energy on giving her the best kiss she ever had.

 

~*~

_I'm a plastic ship, not glass... I will not break easily..._

~*~

(to be continued)


	3. Not A Good Man

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> MAJOR ANGSTY chapter! You have been warned :)

He did explain. It did make sense. She did trust him. But she feel that it's not enough. She feel like she need to do something more. She need to know more about Ximen. She feel that she has not understand him or his life completely yet. She wants to understand more about his life before she met him. She wants to completely enter his world. Then once she understand everything about him, she wants to do something more for him.

"Xiaozi, when are you going drinking with Meizuo again? Does Ximen usually go together with you two?"  
"Yes, he is sometimes with us... it's actually more me tagging along together with them... and not just us three, sometimes we hang out with other people too we know in the bars... why are you asking?"  
"Mmh... will it be a bother... if I join you next time?"  
"Of course not! You are welcomed! What's with the courtesy? And why are you asking me, not Ximen? Is everything still not okay with you two?"  
"No, no, we're fine... I just want to surprise him, I wanna see his reaction when he see me there coming with you, heehee...."  
"Oh, sure! Our next drinking session is Monday night... you free?"  
"Monday is okay for me! What time?"  
"We usually go around 11pm after dinner,"  
"Oh, perfect. My shop is closed at 10pm,"  
"Great, I'll pick you up at your workplace, then we can grab some dinner and go to the bar together,"  
"Okay, thanks so much!"  
...were Xiaoyou and Xiaozi's recorded audio clips on WeChat. 

Monday night, Xiaozi visited Talent's Tea Shop as promised, just right at the time Xiaoyou is closing the shop.  
"Xiaozi, please sit down, I'll be ready in a few minutes," Xiaoyou said to her, as she walked inside the staff room.  
"Sure, no problem,"  
Shancai came out of the staff room properly changed to her private clothes, "Xiaozi, I heard you're gonna take Xiaoyou to drinking in bar with Ximen and Meizuo??"  
"Yeah!"  
"Please take care of Xiaoyou and make sure she arrive at home, she cannot drink much,"  
Xiaozi laughed, "I'm sure Ximen will take care of her better than me. Shancai, you should come too,"  
"I can't... I have a 10 year old child to take care at home..."  
Xiaozi smirked, "Daoming Si is a big boy, he can take care of himself, "  
"He'll throw tantrum if I don't cook his midnight snack," Shancai laughed.  
"How are things going with you two? Smooth?" Xiaozi asked.  
"Yeah, so far so good... but we might have to live apart very soon... he need to take care some business in London, and I still have my school," she hung her head low.   
"Aw... that is too bad... for how long?"  
"Maybe a couple of months, he is saying he's going back to Shanghai every two weeks in the weekends just to meet me, but I don't want him to push himself too hard,"  
"I'm sure he really wants to go back to Shanghai every two weeks to meet you and not pushing himself, you should just let him do that,"  
"You think so? Mmh..." Shancai looked up to Xiaozi, "How about you? Are you getting along well with Meizuo?" Shancai grinned.  
Xiaozi rolled her eyes and sighed, "I told you we're just friends,"  
"Aren't you meeting Meizuo alot lately??"  
"That's because...!! Uhh... okay... this is confidential... but my father's company is sponsoring his upcoming exhibition and Dad trust me to handle this project, the event haven't been revealed to public, so keep it to yourself okay? Are you satisfied now?"  
Shancai grinned and nod slowly, "Ohhh... I see... love can also start from business partnership, of course..."  
"Shancai!!" Xiaozi is annoyed and kicked Shancai's leg under the table.  
"Ow, ow, ow!" Shancai carressed her leg while laughing.  
"What happened? Shancai, are you okay?" Xiaoyou came out of the staff room, surprised to see Shancai in pain.  
"I'm fine," Shancai smiled.  
"You're ready?" Xiaozi stood up and smiled.  
Xiaoyou nod, "Um! Let's go!"  
"Okay bye Shancai, send my regards to your 10-year-old husband!" Xiaozi waved to Shancai and walked out the exit.  
"Shancai, bye, thank you for locking and all!" Xiaoyou said.  
"No problem! Have fun!!" Shancai waved at them.

Xiaoyou and Xiaozi had dinner together nearby and much to Xiaozi's dismay, somehow the conversation turned into Xiaozi's recent frequent meetings with Meizuo again and she is explaining to Xiaoyou about her upcoming business project with Meizuo for the second time. 

After dinner, they went to the bar where they are meeting Meizuo and Ximen. The place is different than the one Xiaoyou went to last time when she was still chasing after Ximen. The music is louder and the type of people coming there looks different too. The lights are less colorful and brighter. But it still reminds Xiaoyou of that time when Ximen scold her for drinking too much. 

They saw Meizuo is drinking alone at one of the standing tables.   
"Meizuo!" Xiaozi tapped his shoulder.   
"Hey... you're here-- Xiaoyou!?" he's surprised to see her.  
Xiaoyou smiled, "Hi, Meizuo, I hope you don't mind me joining,"  
"Of course not, I just didn't know you're coming,"  
"Where is Ximen?" Xiaozi asked.  
"He's around there somewhere, I think..." Meizuo pointing at a certain direction.

Xiaoyou spotted him. Ximen is talking to a beautiful, sexy woman, and they are both holding drinks on their hands. They are standing with enough space between them but they are talking to each other's ears because the music is loud. They laughed together, then the lady placed her hand on his chest. Xiaoyou is feeling various indescribable feelings inside her to see the view. Many thoughts crossed her minds as well. 

Xiaoyou froze for a certain moment then she realized Ximen noticed her existence there. He looked stunned. They gazed into each other's eyes for a few seconds before Xiaoyou turned around and ran away. Ximen called her, "Xiaoyou!!" Meizuo and Xiaozi called her name too. 

Ximen left the woman he was talking to, without any word, and asked them, "What is Xiaoyou doing here?"  
"I'm the one who brought her here, she said she wanted to surprise you, so I didn't tell you guys... I'm sorry..." Xiaozi apologized.

Ximen didn't say a word and ran through the exit to chase after Xiaoyou.

"Xiaozi! You don't bring the girlfriend here without notice!!" Meizuo scold her.  
"Oh god... what have I done?" Xiaozi turned to the direction where Ximen and Xiaoyou left. 

Outside the bar, on the street, Ximen managed to catch her up and grabbed her arm, "Xiaoyou, stop, why are you running away?"  
Xiaoyou released her arm from his hand, "I shouldn't have come..."  
"Is it because I talked to that woman? I was just talking to her, Xiaoyou, she is just an acquaintance! The music is loud, I had to talk closer to her ear, that's all!"  
"Ximen! I can tell!"  
"What...?"  
"I can tell that... she is one of the women you've slept with, before..." her voice sounds small and shaken.   
Ximen is stunned. He almost could not believe the accuracy of her sixth sense.   
They are both silent for a few seconds.  
"Xiaoyou... I swear there is nothing between me and that woman anymore... we are just ordinary friends now... please trust me," 

Xiaoyou looked up to him, "Ximen... I've been afraid to ask you this. But I want to know the truth. Have you erased the numbers of all the girls you have slept with before, from your phone, since we got together?"

To Ximen's ears, this question sounds like the loudest thunder he ever heard in his life.   
He doesn't know what to answer. He doesn't want to answer. He cannot answer. 

"Please answer me honestly, Ximen,"  
He doesn't want to answer the truth but he also cannot lie to her. It is against his conscience and Xiaoyou would immediately see through his lies, anyway.   
"No, I haven't..." he answered in a weak voice.  
"Why... ?"  
Ximen couldn't look at her in the eyes, "Because some of them are my business partners..." he looked at her again, "but they meant nothing to me, Xiaoyou, you know you're the one who means a lot to me, you're special to me--"  
She interrupted him, "Don't go there, no, no... don't... let's go back... go back to the 'business partners' part... what do you mean?" her voice is still shaking.  
Ximen felt like he is being driven to the corner and he really has no way out. He's not answering again and just stared at her.  
"Ximen... some of the women you slept with, are your business partners now?"  
Ximen looked down and not answering.   
"Did you sleep with them to get the business?"  
Ximen looked away.  
"Ximen, please answer me,"  
He turned to her, "It depends... every case is different, sometimes I contact them for business long after I slept with them," the topic have gone too deep so he might as well reveal everything to her.   
"...and sometimes you did sleep with them to get the business?"  
Ximen stayed silent.  
Xiaoyou nod, "Okay, let me change my question. Have you erased the numbers of the girls who are not your business partners?"  
Ximen feel numb now, "No, I haven't either..."  
"Why... ?" Xiaoyou could not hold back her tears anymore.  
Ximen sighed, "Xiaoyou, they're my business network..."  
"Business network... ?" Xiaoyou is stunned.  
"Some of these people work in companies I might need partnership with in the future. This is a part of my social life. I slept with them, yes, but it never meant anything to me,"  
"You mean you can just normally talk to them again like nothing ever happened?"  
"Yes..."  
"How about the girls who got nothing to do with your business network?"  
"I haven't... Xiaoyou, it just didn't occur to me to do that, I will erase them now in front of you!" he pulled out his phone.  
"No, that's not the point! Ximen, you slept with women you have business with or you will have business with in the future, don't you think it's weird!?" Xiaoyou raised her tone and voice for the first time. She could not control her emotions anymore.   
"It's not... it was my lifestyle..." Ximen honestly answered.  
Xiaoyou's face is wet with her tears.   
She is speechless.   
"I need to go... I can't handle this right now..." Xiaoyou is turning around.  
"Xiaoyou please don't do this... please don't turn your back on me and leave me here alone..." Ximen plead.  
"I need time to think it over..." she said without turning around.  
Ximen watched her walking further and further away from him.

~*~

_A plastic ship also sinks..._

~*~

"I told you he's a pig!" Shancai said to Xiaoyou.  
Three days have passed since that night and it's the first time Xiaoyou and Shancai have the same day shift since then. So, Xiaoyou only had the chance to tell her about what happened today.   
"I knew that's what you gonna say,"  
"So, did you tell him to erase all those numbers?"  
"Shancai... I can't do that... it's not for me to decide,"  
"You are okay with him continuing meeting the women whom he slept with before?"  
"I am not okay... but I also know it's not easy for him to just severe ties with his business partners... I'm so confused..."  
Shancai said, "Xiaoyou, you are too nice to him, you should be more fierce... that guy needs to be beaten up, you know that?"  
"Shancai, let's not solve problems with violence..."  
"You're gonna be hurt again and again every time he is meeting those women, though?"  
"Actually, I don't care about those women..." Xiaoyou looked down, "I'm more shocked of the fact of how we are seeing the world very differently..."  
"You mean, your values in life are different than his?"  
"Yes... I mean, I know he is the type who could have sex with anyone and totally not affected by it, but I can't seem to process that in my brain..."  
"In other words, you really don't want him to meet those women ever again, right?"  
She tilted her head, "Is that what it means?"  
"Xiaoyou, deep down inside, its really hard for you to see him meeting those women again, although you are trying hard to understand the situation!"  
Xiaoyou hung her head low, "Then, I'm really disappointed in myself..."  
"It's normal for us, women, to feel this way!"  
"It's not just that... I am now worried...."  
"About what?"  
"Shancai, sex means nothing for him... he did that with hundreds of women he didn't love.... for me, sex is love... I cannot do it with any random guys... then, what would sex with me, mean for him... and what if I don't live up to his expectation? Will he hate me, afterwards?"  
Shancai held her hand, "Xiaoyou, that's not what you should worry now. Now, you have realized you two are two different people with different values in life. So, you two need to talk about this seriously and solve the problem. That is all I can say,"  
Xiaoyou is a bit surprised, "You're not asking me to give him up?"  
"Of course not! You've gone this far then you have to go all the way further, no turning back! Jiayou!!" she tapped her back.  
Xiaoyou smiled, "Thank you, Shancai..." she realized something and continued, "But actually... yesterday, I already texted him that I need to meet him and talk to him... but no answer from him... I tried to call, still no answers..."   
"Really? I'll ask Ah Si to call him, then... don't worry,"  
Xiaoyou nod, "Thank you, Shancai,"

~*~

_I feel like you are going further away..._

~*~

It has been three days since Ximen disappeared from Xiaoyou's range of sight. He is not answering her calls and messages. He received calls from F3 but when they started talking about Xiaoyou, he didn't answer and hung up on them. Xiaoyou is confused. Did she upset him? Why won't he talk to her? She is pondering of what to do. These three days, she kept thinking of Ximen and finding a solution. The only solution she can think of, is to talk things out with him. She wonder if it's okay for her to go meet him against his will. She remembered the promise she made him when they kissed for the first time. That she will fight for their love. She decided to go and find him.

Tonight, she did not have any work shift, so she went out to find Ximen. The first place she went, was his house. The house maid told her Ximen is not home. She called Shancai and asked her if Ximen is at Daoming Si's house, she answered that he is not there. She went to all the drinking bars she know Ximen goes frequently. She still can't find him. There is only one other place for her to find him. She is hoping against hope that he will be there. The Way of Tea Museum.

"Excuse me. Is Mr. Xi Men Yan here?" she asked to the entrance staff.  
"Oh, yes, he just arrived, his session with Master Li won't start til 30 minutes later, so I think he can see you,"  
"Please tell him, Xiaoyou is here, I will be waiting here," 

Xiaoyou sit in the lobby bench. 

She is suddenly feeling nervous. All kind of thoughts crossed her mind. Will he be mad that she came here? Why is he not answering her these three days? Xiaoyou is suddenly feeling scared to find out the answer now that Ximen is just a few metres away from her. The fighting spirit, that she has gathered a few hours ago, vanished into thin air.

A few minutes later, she could feel someone came out and is slowly walking closer toward her, but she couldn't bring herself to raise her head up and look at the person in the eyes. 

"Ni lai le(you came)..." Ximen said. 

She kept looking down. He sit next to her with distance between them. Neither of them dare to look into each other's eyes. They are staring into space.  
"Why didn't you accept my calls and answer my texts?" she started the conversation.  
He was silent for a while.  
"I can't deal with this... it's too much for me..." he said.  
"You can't deal with what?"  
"I can't deal with you hurting... I can't stand seeing you in pain and heartbroken, not to mention, I was the one who caused you feeling all that, Xiaoyou... I know I scared you a lot with my past... I can't bear to hurt you any deeper than this..." he answered in a weak voice.  
"So, you are running away from me? Is that your solution?"  
Ximen didn't answer.  
She finally turned to him, "Ximen, I'm trying very hard to make this work... but I'm not the only person in this relationship... I need you to be there for me... if you keep running away from me, then I am left with no choice..."   
"What do you want from me?"  
"We need to talk..."  
"We will talk, then I will hurt you again, again and again," he turned to her looking frustrated.  
"Are you telling me you're giving up on me? On us? You don't have even a bit of interest in what I'm gonna talk about with you?" Xiaoyou's face is wet with streaks of tears she had been holding back for awhile.   
Ximen's heart is breaking really bad to see her face like that, he immediately looked away. Before he know it, tears are running down his face, as well.   
"I can't do this right now, Xiaoyou... I have a session in 20 minutes..."  
"I understand but please tell me you will not run away from me and that we will talk... whenever it is!"   
He turned to her, "I don't know! I cannot make a decision now!"  
"Why?"  
"I still can't figure things out..." he looked away.  
She grabbed his left arm with her both hands, "Ximen, please don't run away from me now... I don't know if I can still keep my fighting spirit, if you walk away from me now... I mean, this is suppose to be our once-in-a-lifetime chance..." she sobbed.  
They looked into each other's teary eyes for a few seconds.  
"I'm sorry, Xiaoyou... I can't..." he let go off both her hands of his arm and left her.

Xiaoyou is shocked that he really left her alone in that cold lobby. She searched for him all over the town with the spirit to fight for their love. A few hours ago, she imagined that they would have a talk tonight and that everything would end happily between them. They would kiss, made up and feel relieved that everything is solved. 

She did not expect for things to turn out the worst.

Ximen is still running away from her...

~*~

_I lost you in the dark..._

~*~

(to be continued)


	4. Out of Reach

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Still a lot of ANGST. But there is progress on Ximen's end.

Master Li, Ximen's master in tea ceremony for 8 years, tasted the tea Ximen made him.  
Master Li frowned and wrinkled his forehead, "This is not what I taught you,"  
Ximen looked down in embarrassment, "I deeply apologize. I cannot live up to your expectation today. I'm an incapable student,"  
"I can sense that your mind is not in a calm state, from the taste of your tea..." Master Li added.  
"I am very ashamed, Master, you can see through me,"  
"What are you feeling now?" his master asked.  
"I am... feeling a great sense of loss..." Ximen couldn't bring himself to look at his master in the eyes.  
"Ximen... In each loss there is a gain, as in every gain there is a loss..." Master Li said in a steady, firm voice.  
He looked up to his master.  
Master Li continued, "Sometimes we have to lose something precious in order to gain something priceless."  
"Something priceless..." Ximen murmured.  
"It is for you to choose and decide what is precious and what is priceless,"  
Ximen looked into his master's eyes, "Thank you for your teaching, Master. I will remember that well,"  
Master Li smiled and nod.

~*~

_You are priceless for me..._

~*~

Ximen realized his mistake. He need to make sacrifices for her, even if the process will be painful for both of them. If they don't make those sacrifices then they'll lose each other. What can he do to make things right? He feel stupid now because the answer to that question is probably what Xiaoyou wanted to talk about. He terribly failed to understand Xiaoyou's intention, because his mind was still stuck at the night before, when he shocked her with his past. He really didn't want to put her through that ever again. But now him avoiding her hurt her even more. Whichever way it is, they both will hurt, he just realized this. There is no other way but to hit himself into pain to survive the whole thing.

After one whole day thinking about what he should say and what he should do, he decided to meet up with her to talk. He called Xiaoyou but there was no answer. Then, he texted her, "Xiaoyou, I'm so sorry about yesterday. I promise I'll make it up to you. I'm ready to talk with you now. Can we meet up tomorrow? Can I pick you up at your campus?" It was 10 at night. If she was not already closing her shop, then she must be at home already. But there was no immediate answer from her. Ximen is a bit worried waiting for her reply. Many thoughts crossed his mind. Two hours later, she replied with simply "Okay." Ximen replied her, "I'll wait for you at lobby at the usual time, is that okay?" She replied again with "Okay."

He arrived at her campus 3pm, the following day. Her class is usually over at 4pm, but he just wanted to be there one hour earlier for no reason. As always, many girls, who knows him, were approaching him but he politely refused to talk to them, so after awhile no one dare to come close to him. It was already 4.15pm but Xiaoyou is nowhere to be found. At 4.30pm, Ximen decided to call Shancai but Shancai said Xiaoyou is not at the tea shop yet. He waited for another 30 minutes and he got really worried that Xiaoyou didn't appear. Shancai called him, "Ximen, Xiaoyou just texted me that she'll be one hour late, she said she's still in campus, have you found her?" "No, I'll look for her," Ximen tried calling Xiaoyou once again, but still no answer.

Ximen took a look at the campus map. He went to the class where he had once become a guest speaker at, but no one was there. He went to the canteen, but Xiaoyou is nowhere in sight. He ran through the library and checked every class he passed on every floor. After thirty minutes of searching, he reached the 5th floor, he went through all the classes, then he saw the door of one class is opened. Ximen wondered if she is inside that one. He entered the class and saw a girl sitting in the middle row, ten stairs higher than the podium area. She is the girl he has been looking for. Xiaoyou is covering her face with her hands and her shoulders are moving up and down. She is crying. 

"Xiaoyou?" he called her.  
She stopped sobbing and looked to the entrance direction. She looked away as she saw Ximen. She wiped away her tears with her sleeves.  
She forced a smile, "You finally found me..."  
"Why are you here? Why are you crying? I was waiting for you. What happened?" he rushed toward her.  
"STOP!" Xiaoyou stretched out her arm before he climbed up the stairs right in front of her, "Don't come any closer..."  
Ximen is in awe, "What? Why?"  
"I feel like you'll turn your back on me again when you get too close to me..."  
"What? I won't do that now!" Ximen was about to climb up when Xiaoyou stopped him again.  
"Ximen, please don't! I feel stronger when you're 3 meters away from me,"  
He sighed and stayed in the podium area. He has to look up high to look at her in the eyes.  
"Xiaoyou... what happened? Please tell me..."  
"I saw you at the lobby... sitting, waiting for me alone... then suddenly I couldn't bring myself to walk closer to you... so I went back here to the class..." Xiaoyou forced a smile.  
"Why do you feel that way?"  
"I don't know why... I can't explain..."  
"Xiaoyou, I'm here to talk to you and make things right for you. What was it that you wanted to talk to me about the other night?"  
"It doesn't matter anymore..."  
Xiaoyou never look at Ximen in the eyes since he entered the class.  
"What do you mean?"  
"I realized that it doesn't matter whether or not I talk to you..."  
"Xiaoyou, what are you saying?? Please tell me... what do you want me to do?? Do you want me to erase the numbers of those girls? Do you want me to stop meeting them? Do you want me to stop going drinking at the bar? Please just say it... anything!"  
"Ximen! You can't just throw these questions at me! It's very selfish of you!!" Xiaoyou raised her tone high and her face wet with tears.  
Ximen's jaw almost dropped. He is here ready to make sacrifices for her and she is saying that he's selfish?  
They were silent for awhile until Xiaoyou broke the silence.  
"I have to go now... I'm already one hour late for work... I can't let Shancai work by herself... we are lacking staff now..." she picked up her bag and instead going down, she went all the way to the other side of the stairs before going down to reach the exit door.  
"Xiaoyou!" Ximen turned to her, she stopped her steps. He continued, "I just want you to know that I'm here to fight it together with you, I'm not giving up on us!"  
She looked down and paused for awhile. Then, without turning back, she said, "I wish you said that two days ago, when my feeling was still there... I'm not in the same place as where you are now, anymore,"  
"What? Why? What do you mean? Xiaoyou, please..."  
"Please promise me to keep your 3 meters distance away from me, from now on..." she left.

'What does she mean!?' Ximen thought. He felt like Xiaoyou was speaking in a foreign language, because he cannot process anything she was saying just now in his brain. 

~*~

_You looked like a fragile glass ship to me..._

~*~

"Wow Ximen, it has been three months since we last met, where have you been? You never called me anymore!" Selina Yu, the daughter of the CEO of Yu Enterprise greeted Ximen in her office. She was about to hug him, but Ximen pulled away.  
"I'm here for business talk..."  
"Oo... kay... take a seat,"  
"No need... I'll be quick."  
"What's wrong? Isn't our business going smooth?"  
"I'm here to tell you that I will cut off our partnership... I'm sorry that it has come to this,"  
"Excuse me!?" Selina's eyes widened.  
"I will send an official letter about this matter to your company, I'm here to inform you this matter personally to be polite, because I really respect you and your father's generosity to our company all these time," Ximen said formally.  
"Why all of a sudden?" she wrinkled her forehead.  
He looked at her in the eyes, "I got this business because I slept with you. I don't deserve it."  
She laughed, "What do you mean? Ximen, didn't we have so much fun back then? I think, we should continue our business, and also our secret meetings..."  
She was going to touch his waist when he grabbed her wrist.  
"I'm sorry. I have erased your number from my phone. So don't call me cause I won't pick up numbers that are not saved in my contact... I'm sorry I took up your time. I will take my leave now," Ximen lowered his head. He turned around.  
"You have a lot of guts to do this, Ximen!"  
Ximen stopped at the door.  
"Let's see where your guts will bring your company to... my father won't let you get away with this..." Selina's voice shows how upset she is.  
"I am not afraid of your father..." Ximen left her office.

The following day, Lu Jin, one of young executive BoD member of Ximen family's company stormed into Ximen's office.  
"Zhou told me you are cutting off several suppliers and customers, what does this mean?" he sounded furious and he threw a clear file with papers inside onto Ximen's desk.  
"It means exactly as it sounds..." Ximen didn't look away from his computer.  
"Can you at least tell me the reason? Ximen, we cannot survive without these vendors!"  
Ximen leaned his back to the back of his seat and turned to Lu Jin, "I have checked our balance sheet and P/L, I made a calculation estimation, we will only be in the red for a few months... it will not make our company collapse,"  
"A few months!? We will not be getting any profits! Are you out of your mind!?"  
"I made the calls in this company, its a final decision already, and I'll also be working on a project to find new suppliers and customers with a few staff," Ximen told him firmly.  
Lu Jin pointed something on the paper he just threw to the desk, "Yu Enterprise is one of our sponsors for the upcoming Shanghai Tea Festival, you can't be serious about this?!"  
"I'll use up my own personal money to cover it up, don't worry, I've made all the calculation..."  
"This is not about money! You know very well Yu is a powerful and influential business tycoon in this industry, we do not want to upset him! How do you think he'd feel if we suddenly refuse the money he invested for our company's event?" Lu Jin is terribly fed up.  
"Jin... I know what I'm doing, I'll take care of everything... relax!" Ximen said.  
Lu Jin took a deep breath, "Fine, I've warned you,"  
Ximen nod, "Thank you,"  
Lu Jin shook his head, "You're just as absurd as your father..." he left Ximen's office.

Ximen made a decision to cut off his business suppliers and customers related to the women he dated with in the past. It was a huge decision for him to make. It takes a lot of time and energy to cut them off. He spent sleepless nights to make profit and loss calculations also consider the impact of losing partnerships with them. He had to think of a solution to cover up the loss as well. But he is committed to this. It has been a week since his last heart-breaking meet with Xiaoyou. He hasn't said anything yet to her about him cutting off ties with all those women he has business with. But he never stop sending Xiaoyou romantic text and audio messages. "Have you eaten?" "Be careful on your way home" "Morning, good luck with your class today" "I miss you" "I wish you're here with me" and so on. He is also telling her that he is working on a solution. But he didn't go into details. Xiaoyou never replied but status says she read all of them. He doesn't mind. He knows she is in a different place than he is. He just wants her to know that he still love her so much.

He was looking at the calendar. He's thinking if there's still a chance to find a new sponsor before the Shanghai Tea Festival on March 17th. Still three weeks left. March 17th... the date sounds familiar to him. He widened his eyes. It just hit him. 'Isn't this Xiaoyou's birthday!?' he thought to himself. He checked her QQ, her profile says her birthday is March 17th, indeed. He need to fix things up immediately. He definitely doesn't want her to be unhappy on her birthday. 

~*~

_I won't let you go..._

~*~

F4 entered the Talent's Tea Shop together. They see Shancai and Xiaoyou are already in their private clothes, ready to go home.  
Shancai was surprised to see all of them, "Heyy, what are you all doing here? I thought only Ah Si coming here to pick me up?"  
Xiaoyou is suddenly trembling to see Ximen coming in.  
"We were all just hanging out in our place, so then we all decided to go together," Ah Si said to Shancai, "And err... someone insisted to tag along with me," Ah Si glanced at Ximen.  
"Xiaoyou..." Ximen walked closer to the counter where Xiaoyou is standing.  
Xiaoyou said, "Three meters,"  
Ximen stopped his steps and sighed. He stood by the entrance. Shancai and F3 are glancing at each other with a question mark looks on their faces.  
"Xiaoyou, I need to talk to you..." Ximen said in a gentle voice.  
Xiaoyou is sorting the stock database with the device on the counter.  
She answered without looking away, "Please, go ahead..."  
"In private..." Ximen added.  
Xiaoyou stopped and turned to Ximen, "Why? Is it something that everyone here can't hear?"  
Shancai and F3 are glancing at each other again with nervous looks. The air feels really hot and awkward for them.  
"Maybe we all should leave, then," Lei suggested.  
"Yeah, that's a good idea," Meizuo nod.  
"Yess... Ah Si, please wait outside, I'll go change!" Shancai told her husband.  
"No.. please everyone stay... Shancai, please stay," Xiaoyou held her arm.  
"Xiaoyou..." Shancai realized her bestfriend is serious.  
It seems like she doesn't want to be left alone with Ximen.  
Xiaoyou asked Ximen, "Do you mind?"  
He paused for awhile and glanced at F3.  
"No... of course not, they're my brothers and sister..." Ximen said.  
"Good," Xiaoyou turned back to her monitor but her hands are not touching the screen and stayed at the edge of the counter.  
"Xiaoyou... I have erased all the numbers... you can check yourself," Ximen pulled out her phone and made a gesture to Ah Si to pass it over to Xiaoyou. Ah Si is feeling weird about this, but passed the phone anyway to Shancai. Shancai passed it to Xiaoyou but Xiaoyou is not accepting. Shancai put Ximen's phone on the counter.  
Xiaoyou is silent.  
Ximen continued, "I have cut off business partnerships with companies related to the women I've slept with in the past, and I have erased all their numbers..."  
Xiaoyou stayed silent. Looking hesitant.  
This is not the reaction Ximen expected.  
"Please say something..." he asked.  
Xiaoyou smiled bitterly, "What do you want me to say? Thank you?"  
Ximen frowned, "Xiaoyou..."  
"Xie xie (thank you)... xinku ni le (thank you for your hard work)..." Xiaoyou said, "Is that all you want to say?"  
Ximen didn't know what to answer.  
Xiaoyou is back touching the monitor screen.  
"Xiaoyou, I realized if I want to be together with you, I can't stay in the past. You are now a part of me, so I shouldn't keep business with those women anymore... I have to change my lifestyle and work it out with you... so, I--"  
Xiaoyou didn't answer and kept touching the screen, then she immediately turned it off.  
"Xiaoyou, please say something," Ximen plead.  
Shancai saw streaks of tears on Xiaoyou's face.  
"Shancai, can you please lock the door and everything, I will leave now," she forced a smile. She glanced at F3, "Bye, everyone, I'm sorry, I have to leave now," she is smiling to everyone with a teary face.  
Ximen grabbed Xiaoyou's arm when she was going to walk past him.  
"Xiaoyou, please... just tell me, what can make you happy? What do you want me to do?" he turned to her.  
She paused. She is trying to calm herself.  
"Ximen... ever since you turned your back on me that night, I feel like you are out of my reach... other things just doesn't matter anymore..."  
Ximen wrinkled his forehead, "What do you mean?"  
"I went to the bar to get closer to you, to understand you... but the more I get closer to you, the more I feel like you are out of my reach..."  
"Why do you feel that way?"  
"I don't know why! l just feel that. Ximen... you are the man of my dream, and sometimes I'm thinking if it's better if you stay as a dream for me..." Xiaoyou is sobbing hard.  
Ximen is stunned, "Are you saying that it's better if we break up?"  
"I don't know... maybe... I don't want to tie you down," she looked down.  
Tears falling down Ximen's face.  
"No... no... we can't... I won't break up with you... you're not tying me down,"  
"Isn't your company in trouble now that you cut off partnerships with a few companies?"  
She just said the truth.  
"No!" Ximen hugged her forcefully, "I love you! We can't give up!"  
Xiaoyou struggled to let go and pushed him away. Ximen lost balance and fell to the ground.  
"Don't think you can just hug me and solve the problem! You make me feel more alone than ever!"  
Ximen looked up with a teary face.  
"I'm sorry... I just..." Xiaoyou turned around and ready to leave.  
Still on the ground, Ximen grabbed her hand. He pulled her and put his both arms around her waist while kneeling down.  
"Xiaoyou... please tell me... tell me how to make things right... I can't lose you,"  
"I don't have all the answers, Ximen... You can't just expect me to tell you what to do and everything will be okay... that's now how it works..."  
They're silent for a few seconds.  
"Please... let me go... I have to go home..."  
Ximen is letting her go and stood up. He wiped his tears with his sleeves.  
"Okay, but please let me take you home, it's okay even if you don't talk to me... it's too late, it's dangerous..."  
"No, Ximen, I just want to be alone now... please..."  
"Xiaoyou! Don't be stubborn! I'm worried, you're emotional, bad people can take advantage of you like this,"  
"It's okay, really!" Xiaoyou started walking away.  
"Wait, Xiaoyou!" Meizuo called her.  
She stopped and turned around.  
He said to Ximen, "I'll take her home... Xiaoyou, is it okay if I take you home?" Meizuo asked her.  
"Meizuo, really, you don't have to..."  
"Ximen is right. It's dangerous... Ximen, you okay with this?" he asked him.  
Ximen nod, "Thank you... thanks a lot..."  
"No problem.... let's go, Xiaoyou," Meizuo walked toward her.  
"Wait, Meizuo, take my car!" Ximen pulled out his keys.  
Meizuo turned to Xiaoyou with a question mark look.  
Xiaoyou shook her head.  
"It's okay, we can take the train, bye guys!" Meizuo waved.  
Xiaoyou left with Meizuo. Ximen turned to the rest.  
"I'm sorry you guys had to see that..." Ximen hung his head low.  
No one say a thing.  
Ximen went closer to Shancai who is standing behind the counter.  
"Shancai... please tell me... what can I do for her?"  
Shancai sighed, "Ximen. I am her bestfriend but I don't know everything she is feeling... All I know is that she is very disappointed in herself that she cannot understand the way you think,"  
Ximen is so confused.  
"Isn't there anything I can do to make her feel better?"  
"You lost your chance. The time she needed you the most was when she went to the Way of Tea Museum. But you left her there. She doesn't need your presence now. I say you just leave her alone for awhile," Shancai advised.  
"Till when?"  
Shancai shrugged, "Only time will tell..."  
"But it's her birthday soon..." Ximen is devastated.

"Xiaoyou, wait," Meizuo stopped at a bench on sidewalk, "I'm feeling thirsty, let's buy a drink? Can you wait for me here? The store is just right there,"  
Xiaoyou smiled and nod. She sit on the bench. He's back in five minutes.  
"Here you go. Milk tea right?"  
Xiaoyou smiled, "Thank you,"  
Meizuo sit next to her, "Ask me anything,"  
"Hm?"  
"Xiaoyou, I know Ximen more than anyone else, I've known him since forever, you can ask me anything, isn't that what you need right now?" he turned to her.  
Xiaoyou smiled and looked down, "Is his company okay?"  
"I will be honest with you. One of the customers he cut off is one of the sponsors for Shanghai Tea Festival. Things are not looking good. But Ximen worked hard to cover up all the loss and find a solution, he spent sleepless night to make profit and loss calculations... he's very serious about it,"  
"Is that so..." Xiaoyou looked like she's feeling guilty.  
"But he is really learning the hardship of business from this... he is more active now. He is even starting a new project with his staff... good things are gained despite the loss, don't worry,"  
Xiaoyou turned to Meizuo and smiled, "You made me relieved a bit,"  
"That's what I'm here for," he grinned, "I've never seen him work this hard for a woman, Xiaoyou, he is a changed man, he loves you a lot,"  
Xiaoyou nod, "I know he worked very hard for it..." tears welling up on her eyes, "But I don't know, I just feel he is so far away from me... I hate myself for feeling like this..." she crumpled up her own skirt.  
"Don't worry... as long as you both want to be together with each other, there will always be a way and a chance, sooner or later," he leaned back on the bench.  
She turned to him, "What if that chance never came?"  
"Then it means deep down, you two doesn't really want to be together," he shrugged.  
Xiaoyou think about what he is saying for a bit, then she smiled, "Thank you, Meizuo,"

~*~

_There is no one right answer for love..._

~*~

It's almost midnight. After taking Xiaoyou home, Meizuo went back to Ah Si's house by taxi because he heard from Lei, Ximen is there, drinking so much booze. He entered their hangout room, "Hey! How is he?"

Lei pointed at the empty whiskey bottles lining up on the floor. There are about 5-6 bottles. Ah Si is also there.

"Where's Shancai?" he asked him.  
"Asleep already," Ah Si said.

Ximen is sitting on the couch. Actually he is almost lying on the couch, not sitting. Ximen is drinking the last drop from the bottle he's holding, "Hand me another one!" he stretched out his arm.

"Stop it, Ximen! It's the 7th bottle already!" Ah Si scold him.  
"I don't care! Gimme it!" Ximen grabbed a new, unopened bottle.  
He is obviously, terribly drunk, but his friends doesn't know how to stop him.  
Suddenly, Ah Si stood up and leaving.  
"Hey, Ah Si? Where you going?" Meizuo called him.  
"He annoyed me!" Ah Si said walking out the door.

Ximen stared at the ceiling after drinking a gulp, "My girlfriend is feeling miserable but I don't know how to make her feel better..." he laughed and in tears, "What should I do? I don't even know what to do? How to make Xiaoyou happy?"

Meizuo whispered to Lei, "I feel a de ja vu..."  
Lei whispered back, "This is heartbroken Daoming Si the 2nd season,"  
"Ah, true..."

"Heyy! You know what this makes me? THE WORST BOYFRIEND! You know that?? Come on! Repeat after me! Xi Men Yan is the worst, worst, worst boyfriend!!"

Meizuo and Lei glanced at each other, "Xi Men Yan is the worst, worst, worst boyfriend!"

"Great! That is correct!" Ximen laughed.

Lei whispered to Meizuo, "Did he just degrade himself from the perfect boyfriend to the worst boyfrend?"  
Meizuo shook her head, "His life is over..."

Ah Si came in with a bucket of cold water and poured the whole water to Ximen's head.  
Ximen is furious, "What the fuck---!?!? Ah Si!" he grabbed Ah Si's shirt.  
"Ask yourself, Ximen! Have you done absolutely everything for Xiaoyou!?" Ah Si yelled at him when Ximen was about to give him a punch in the face.  
His fist stopped in the air.  
"If she is unhappy, that means you are not doing enough for her! Ask yourself, what have you not done yet for her," Ah Si grabbed Ximen's collar, "The answer is A LOT." he threw him onto the couch.  
Ah Si walked away and leaving.  
"Good night! I'm going to sleep, you guys can use any of the bedrooms available,"  
Meizuo and Lei glanced at each other. Thinking how to carry Ximen to the bedroom.  
"Just leave him here?"  
"Yeah, let's..."  
"Good night, Ximen!"

Ximen is thinking that Ah Si just said something he had never realize before. 

What has he done purely for her? Nothing.

~*~

_I never entered your world..._

~*~

(to be continued)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can you hear "Say Something" playing in the background through out the whole chapter? LOL


	5. Three Meters Distance

_Her hand touched mine and I grabbed it tightly. Her hand is so small but it feels incredibly warm. She smiled to me, "Ximen! I want to eat ice cream!" the sun shines on her beautiful face. Her voice and laughs soothes me. After we ate ice cream, we walk around among the crowd holding hands, making jokes and laugh together. We arrived at a lotus garden. The pink lotus flowers perfectly bloomed. "It's so beautiful!" she smiled widely, "Thank you for taking me here, Ximen," I pulled her close and embraced her in my arms, I let her head rest on my chest. "I'll do anything for you, you know that..." I love smelling her hair, it smells like coconut. Suddenly I felt my shirt wet and I realized she is sobbing. "Xiaoyou... why are you crying?" she looked up to me with teary eyes, "This is the most beautiful last date, Ximen... thank you... I'll never forget it, but this will be the last time we meet each other..." I widened my eyes, "What!? Why? No... Xiaoyou, please..." she smiled at me, "You should be happy... I'm releasing you..." she let go of my arms and walked away, "Xiaoyou, don't leave me!!"_

Ximen woke up with tears on his face. He saw the room's ceiling, then he looked around. The room feels unfamiliar for him. This is not his own bedroom. He wiped his tears. He got off the bed and walked out to the corridor. It's Ah Si's house. It's one of the rooms he usually stay in whenever he stay over at Ah Si's house. He don't remember how he got there. He was completely wasted last night. His head still hurt. Maybe Meizuo and Lei carried him there. Maybe he walked there by himself. He is quite a level-headed person even when he is drunk. He went down the stairs. He smell something coming from the kitchen. 

He saw Shan Cai working in the kitchen as he entered the dining room.  
"Ximen! Are you okay? I heard you were very drunk last night," she asked as she saw him.  
"I'm fine... it's okay..."  
"Why are you up this early?"  
"I can't sleep anymore after a nightmare..."  
"Nightmare?"  
"Xiaoyou left me..."  
"Ahh..." Shan Cai nodding sympathetically, "Have a seat, you look horrible, do you need anything?"  
Ximen took a seat on the dining table, "Water, please?"  
Shan Cai poured water into a glass and handed it over to Ximen.  
"I'm baking muffins, it's waiting time now. Should I sit here with you or should I go somewhere else?"  
"Shan Cai, please stay, you're the person I need the most right now..." he looked up at her.  
She wrinkled her forehead.  
"I mean... the one I need the most, next to Xiaoyou, of course,"  
Shan Cai chuckled and took a seat.  
"I'm just gonna go and tell you the truth. You messed up big time, Ximen,"  
Ximen sighed and nod, "I know... I totally messed it up... How can I make her feel better?"  
She shrugged, "Xiaoyou is trapped in her own feelings... she is trying too hard to understand you, trying too hard not to demand anything from you, she's like that,"  
"What did I do wrong? Please tell me..." Shan Cai is ready to make a 'How do I know?' face but Ximen immediately interrupted her, "From last night, from what you saw last night, did I push her too much? Was it something I said? Or how I said it? Anything, Shan Cai, please... I have no clue here..."  
Shancai felt amused, "I thought you're suppose to be the perfect boyfriend who understands all women's feelings?"  
"Xiaoyou is extremely a special case... I really can't figure her out, she's driving me crazy!"  
Shancai laughed.  
"Help me here..."  
She was thinking for a bit, trying to recall what happened last night.  
"Mmh... you did ask her too much about how to make things right... like, you want her to tell you straight, what she wants you to do..."  
"Is that wrong? I was just saying that I'll do anything for her..."  
"Yeah... but it's like you're placing the whole weight of your relationship with her completely on her shoulder... I mean, like you want her to make the decisions for you... if things doesn't go smooth, then won't she be blamed since it was the solution she asked you to do?"  
"Oh...."  
"I don't know, though, it's just my opinion..." she shrugged.  
"No, no, you're right, " Ximen recalled what she said in her class the other day, "She did say I was selfish for asking her those questions..."  
"Well... there you go..."  
"Ah Si poured a bucket of water on me last night, by the way..."  
She widened her eyes, "What!? So that was why the bucket is in that room and everything around is so wet.... sheesh, that kid! He don't know how hard it is to dry them off!" she rolled her eyes, then she turned to him, "What did he say?"  
"He said I haven't done enough for Xiaoyou... he's right, I almost know nothing about her... Shancai, can you please tell me more about her?"  
"Like what? What do you not know?"  
"I dunno... her family, her childhood memories, her highschool time, anything, anything..."  
"How far do you know about her family?" Shancai asked him back.  
"Uhh... I know that her mother runs a pastry shop with her friends? ...right?" Ximen waited for her to nod, then he continued, "Her birth father passed away when she was ten, and then her mother married Mr. Jiang, her stepfather now," Shancai nod.  
"That's about it..."  
Shancai is surprised, "That's it!? She never told you about her childhood?"  
Ximen is trying to recall his conversations with her, "I don't think so... she always ask a lot about me... so somehow I never get to go into details about her life... but I mean I know everything about her in the present, her likes and dislikes, her campus life, her work life, her friends...."  
"But nothing about her past?"  
"Sometimes she talk about you and Qinghe when you guys were still in high school,"  
"Nothing from before she met me, then?" Shancai confirmed once again.  
"No... why? What is it? Please tell me..."  
Shan Cai sighed.  
"Xiaoyou's birth father was an architect. He specialized in preserving ancient buildings and ancient towns, do you know about this?"  
Ximen hung his head in shame, "No... please continue..."  
"Xiaoyou was very close with her father, she was really spoiled. He'd sometimes go faraway for preservation projects but when he was home for months, he'd spend time everyday with Xiaoyou, played with her, brought her to playgrounds, bought her any toy she wanted, he was really a good father for her and she told me, her dad was her whole world that time..."  
"How did he pass away?" Ximen asked.  
Shancai sighed, "Brain hemorrhage... Ximen, he passed away on Xiaoyou's birthday..."  
"What..." Ximen is stunned. He can't believe he has not heard this story before.  
"She told me a week before he passed away, he promised Xiaoyou, on her birthday, he would bring her to a place... Xiaoyou was looking forward to it so much... everyday she'd ask her mom and dad 'Is it my birthday yet?' Two days before her birthday, her father collapsed and immediately carried to hospital. It happened really fast. Exactly on midnight, on her birthday... he passed away. Xiaoyou never celebrate her birthday, since then... oh gosh, I feel so sad just telling you this story..." Shan Cai took a deep breath.  
Ximen is surprised to hear Xiaoyou had such a sad childhood. His heart sank.  
"Where is the place that his late father was going to bring her to?" he asked.  
"She said she never knew. She saw one of the pictures of the place that her father worked on and she said she wanted to go there... her father never told her the name of the place..."  
Ximen sighed, "I have to see her... I have to talk to her... when is her work shift today, do you know?"  
"Ximen, please, don't... please give her the space and time she needs for now... please..."  
"Okay, fine, I won't talk to her... but please... can you tell me her shift? I'd really appreciate it. I promise I won't push her,"  
Shancai sighed, "She has shift this morning, she's opening the shop at 10 o'clock,"  
"Thank you, thank you...!!" Ximen gave her a quick hug.  
"Hey, hey, hey! What are you doing!?" Ah Si doesn't look happy to see his bestfriend hugging Shancai.  
Ah Si, Meizuo and Lei entered the dining room with morning faces.  
"Dude! You don't hug your friend's wife early in the morning!" Meizuo looked at Ximen like he's a crazy guy.  
Lei is just smiling.  
"I can't believe this... Lei kissed her, you hugged her, am I suppose to share Shancai with all of you!?" Ah Si yelled at them.  
"She's like a sister to me, can't I hug her?"  
They gathered in the dining table.  
"We were just talking about Xiaoyou, so Ximen is overwhelmed," Shancai explained.  
"I gotta go now," Ximen walked away.  
"Wait... Ximen, you're not eating breakfast with us?" Shancai asked.  
"No, its okay, thanks!"  
They all glanced at each other. Suddenly Meizuo gave Shancai a big smile, "Morning, Shancai" and was going to give her a hug when Ah Si grabbed him by the collar "Over my dead body," 

~*~

_I just dive into your ocean..._

~*~

Ximen came back to his house to get a shower and change to a suit to go visit a potential customer for a meeting. But before going there, he had time to stop by at Xiaoyou's tea shop. He arrived at 9.35am. He saw her from the glass window. She is cleaning up the shop and getting ready to open with another part-time staff. Ximen just stood there and gazed at her for ten minutes when Xiaoyou finally realized his presence. Xiaoyou pretend didn't see and ignored him. Ximen is fine with that. He can just gaze at her like this forever. He is just hoping she let him. But as he expected, Xiaoyou went by the door.

Without looking into his eyes, she asked, "What are you doing there? You're distracting me..."  
"May I get closer to you?"  
"No..." she looked down.  
Ximen stay put where he is at.  
"I'm sorry about yesterday. I'm sorry for everything and anything. I was an idiot. I'm an idiot... It's okay if you don't want to meet me or talk to me, but please let me do this..."  
"Do what?"  
"I'll just be here in the morning and any free time I have, to watch over you... I'll be here at night when its time for you to go home... I'll follow you from behind, ride the train with you, all the way to your home... I will keep the 3 meters rule,"  
She turned to him, "What for? Will that do anything good for us?" she wrinkled her forehead.  
"I don't know but I'm still your boyfriend and I'm not giving up on you... this is the least I can do for you... watch over you from afar... Please let me do this for you,"  
She looked down, "I'm not sure if this is a good idea..."  
"Let me do this just for one day, then, you can tell me to stop any time you want, if you don't like it,"  
"Okay... but promise me you'll stop your daily text messages then... it's distracting my studies..."  
"Okay, of course! So you agree to this?" he asked full of hope.  
"Suit yourself..." Xiaoyou went back inside the shop.  
Ximen smiled in relief. 

When the shop is opened, he ordered a milk tea and took a seat furthest away from the counter. This might be the first time ever Ximen watching Xiaoyou working for such a long duration. As the manager, she also give instructions to the other staff. Ximen feel so proud of her growth. The girl who was crying at the roadside, is gone now. He left around 12.30pm for his meeting. After the meeting with the potential customer, he went back to his office to have a meeting with his employees, then he went back to Xiaoyou's shop around 3pm and took a seat inside the shop again. Xiaoyou glanced at Ximen once in awhile and they made eye contacts. Ximen would be smiling and deeply gazing at her. The same way he was gazing at her the first time they met. Then, Xiaoyou would look away. He stayed there for two hours then he went back to office for a BOD meeting. 

Ximen went back to the shop exactly when Xiaoyou was closing the shop. He waited outside. Xiaoyou walked out the door and locked it. She glanced at Ximen without saying a single word. Then, she turned around and walked away. Ximen followed from behind. She is heading to the station. Before reaching the station, she stopped once to turn around and saw Ximen is still following her from behind. Ximen sweetly smiled to her. Xiaoyou felt her heart beat faster a bit. They got on the train together, onto the same car, but Ximen stood in quite a distance with her. They didn't get a seat so they were standing. Xiaoyou turned to look at Ximen once in awhile. Ximen smiled at her and he is looking very handsome. Her heart beat faster again. This is the first time she has someone acting like a bodyguard for her like this. Not to mention, it's Ximen, the man she loves. Somehow, she feels safe with him around. They got off of the train and walked to her house. When Xiaoyou arrived at her house, she turned to him. Ximen waved his hand from afar saying, "Good night!" Xiaoyou didn't say a word and just entered. 

As Xiaoyou entered her bedroom, she placed her hand on her chest, feeling her heart beat. It does beat faster but she didn't feel any pain like last night. 'So, it's okay then' she thought to herself. She felt warm today everytime Ximen appeared. She is asking herself if she is ready to talk to him and try to enter his world once again. But then she feel fear. She is still not ready. "Three meters distance for awhile then..." she said to herself. She looked out through her window and she saw Ximen leaving.

Ximen did the same routine for three days. He is not neglecting his works. He goes to office and business meetings when he has to but he always use his free time to go to Xiaoyou's shop just to watch her from afar. When Xiaoyou has night shift or whole day shift, he will follow Xiaoyou from behind all the way to her home after she close the shop. They almost never talk and only make eye contacts. Ximen is happy enough that Xiaoyou didn't tell him to stop this and it looks like she was expecting him to be around. 

On Sunday morning, as always, Ximen was there, outside the shop, before Xiaoyou open her shop. He heard her talking on the phone, "Ohh... I see... its okay, please take care, no, it's fine..." she hung up. Ximen looked at his watch. It's 9.40am, but the other part time staff is not there yet. He noticed Xiaoyou is looking at him from inside the shop, like she was about to say something. But she stopped and looked away. She continued cleaning up the floor with a vacuum cleaner. In the previous days, he saw about this time, Xiaoyou and the other staff had already start placing down the pipe chairs which are piled up at the corner. Ximen understood the situation. The other staff is not coming. He entered the shop and started carrying the pipe chairs and arrange them around the tables.  
"Ximen..." Xiaoyou muttered.  
"I'll help you," he smiled.  
"Thank you..."  
"Xiaoyou, I have no plans today... I'll help you serve the drinks," he went to the counter to get an apron and a hat.  
"Ximen..."  
He turned around.  
"Thank you..." she said while looking down.  
'She is so cute' he thought to himself.  
"No problem!" he smiled. 

It was a busy Sunday, so Ximen's presence there was such a big help for Xiaoyou. Xiaoyou take the orders and Ximen have the drinks ready and served them. When people were lining up more and more, Ximen's calm and composed attitude, calms Xiaoyou too. She usually flustered together with Shancai when the customers are more than they expected. There was a 5 years old child who spilled the milk tea to the floor, he stepped onto the puddle and slipped, then he cried out loud. Xiaoyou immediately wiped the floor, Ximen helped the mother, calming the little boy. There were a few complaints from the customers about the taste of the milk tea they ordered, Xiaoyou took care some of them, but Ximen helped her out with one annoying customer too. They survived the whole day feeling very tired. 

After the shop closed, Ximen wiped all the tables and placed back all the chairs at the corner. Xiaoyou is sorting out inventory at the counter. Ximen walk passed her and wiped the milk tea machines area. When he is done, he turned around and watched Xiaoyou's back from behind. She is drinking a cup of milk tea while doing her inventory work. She is looking down so Ximen could see her nape. She has such a fair skin. Certain thoughts creep into his mind. It's night time. The shop is closed and they are both left alone there. Nobody else is around. Suddenly he felt such a huge urge to wrap her whole body with his arms from behind and to kiss her nape. He wants to caress her belly and waist, then turn her around and kiss her sweet milk tea tasted lips. 

"Ximen?" she looked confused.  
Her voice pulled him back to reality. He is suddenly already an inch away from her and he didn't remember how he got there. He stepped back as soon as he realized and looked away, flustered. 'Damn it! Ximen! Where is your self control!' he thought to himself.  
"Why are you breathing fast?" she asked.  
"What? Did I? No, it's nothing... uhhh... got tired of wiping, maybe... err, I mean lifting up those chairs... err, I dunno..."  
Xiaoyou looked at him weirdly, "I'll go change..."  
"Sure, sure!" Ximen nod.  
As she disappeared from his sight, Ximen took a deep breath.  
'I can't do this to her now, she'll get scared of me again... dammit!' he thought.  
It seems like the calm state of mind he learned for years in the Way of Tea, just went out of the window as soon as Xiaoyou is within his reach. 

After she changed to her private clothes, she saw Ximen waiting outside for her. She locked the door and turned to him.  
"Ximen... thank you so much... it was a big help today... I don't know how to thank you...."  
Ximen chuckled, "May I have the privilege to walk next to you tonight, instead of following you from behind?"  
Xiaoyou hesitated for a bit, then nod.  
"Really? I feel honored!" he smiled.  
She looked down, "I'm so sorry..."  
"For what?"  
"For being unreasonable... asking you to keep 3 meters distance... for not knowing why I feel so faraway from you... for not being able to give you any clear answers... I'm so sorry..." she looked down and looked very sorry as well as looking cute at the same time.  
He felt another urge to hug her, kiss her, and tell her everything's gonna be okay. He pinched his own arm to hold himself back from doing that.  
"It's okay, Xiaoyou... I caused a huge scar in you... let's take it slowly... any time you are ready for us to be close again..." he said in a gentle voice.  
Xiaoyou looked up at him and smiled. The smile that made him completely fall in love with her. The first smile he saw from her since... since when was it? He can't even remember. It's been a long time since he saw her smile.  
'Gosh! Why is she so cute, cute, cute!' he thought.  
Ximen felt another huge urge to hug her tightly. He pinched his own arm harder, "Ow!" he couldn't help but to let out a noise.  
Xiaoyou was surprised, "What happened?"  
Ximen raised her hand, "Nothing, nothing, I'm fine," he felt stupid.  
Xiaoyou looked confused but then she smiled and turned around.  
They walked side by side to the station.  
They are silent for awhile. Ximen thought this is a good chance to ask her about her father. He thought what he should say for awhile before he finally asked.  
"Xiaoyou... I heard from Sanchai, about your father..."  
Her round, beautiful eyes widened, "What did you hear?"  
"About your father passing away on your birthday... and the promise he couldn't keep..."  
"Oh... you heard..."  
"I'm so sorry about that, Xiaoyou..."  
Xiaoyou smiled, "It happened long time ago,"  
"Xiaoyou... can I hear more about this place your father was going to take you to? Let's go there together,"  
"Please forget what you heard..." she turned to him, "Let's talk about something else," she smiled.

~*~

_You locked your past from me..._

~*~

"Wow, like a crazy stalker?" Meizuo made a comment when he heard what Ximen had been doing lately.  
"More like a bodyguard, I got her permission, thank you very much!" he took a big bite of his burger.  
Meizuo turned to Lei, "Why is it that everything Ximen does, is only a little different than Ah Si?"  
Lei chuckled.  
"For your information, Xi Men Yan's love strategy is successful this time!" Ximen added.  
"You guys kissed and made up?" Meizuo asked.  
"No... but she is smiling to me now,"  
Meizuo made a bored face, "Waaa... what a progress, congratulations, Mr. Perfect Boyfriend successfully made his girlfriend smile after causing her three weeks of pain,"  
"Has it really been that long?" Lei smiled.  
Ximen, Meizuo and Lei are hanging out together in a burger place. One of their regular hangouts. Ah Si have a business meeting that day so he couldn't join.  
"But she didn't want to tell me about her father... what should I do?" Ximen gulped his coke.  
"Her father?" Lei asked.  
"Shancai told him that Xiaoyou's father passed away before he could keep his promise to bring her to this certain place... Ximen wants to bring Xiaoyou to that place but he has no clue where that is..." Meizuo explained to Lei.  
"If only I can just ask her mother..." Ximen muttered.  
"Then go visit her mother," Lei said.  
"You crazy? We have been just going out for three months, she hadn't said a word about me to her mom," Ximen continued eating his burger.  
Lei shrugged, "So?"  
"So?" Ximen wrinkled his forehead.  
"Go visit her mother... tell her that you are dating her daughter with marriage in mind, then ask her about that place," Lei answered.  
Meizuo chuckled, "Ooh! Parents love that,"  
"What are you guys saying? How can I suddenly bring up marriage? She doesn't even know me!"  
"Are you not going to marry Xiaoyou in the future?" Lei asked with a challenging look.  
"I--- hey okay, that's a trick question,"  
"'Marriage in mind' doesn't mean you're gonna marry her right away, it just means you're serious about her," Lei said matter-of-factly.  
Ximen is trying to process what Lei said in his brain, to sort out whether he is just tricking him or he is saying the truth.  
"You guys really think I should go see Mrs. Jiang?"  
Meizuo and Lei glanced at each other, "Just goooooo!!"  
Meizuo groaned, "Please end our misery and the suffer we have to go through hearing you pining over Xiaoyou...."

Ximen is lost in his thoughts.

(to be continued)


	6. Ancient Water Towns

Ximen is nervous. This is his first experience to call a girlfriend's mother. He got Mrs. Jiang's number from Shancai. He dated and slept with countless of girls before but he never had to deal with their parents. Sometimes, he'd meet the parents for business which is a separate matter and they never knew he slept with their daughters. This is his first time that he actually has to introduce himself as the daughter's boyfriend.

"Hello?" she answered.  
"He--Hello? Is this Mrs. Jiang Lifen?" Ximen asked.  
"Yes, speaking,"  
"Mrs. Jiang, my name is Ximen Yan, I'm.. I'm dating your daughter, Xiaoyou..."  
"Oh... it's you..."  
Ximen's eyes widened, "You've heard about me?"  
"Yes... What's the matter?"  
"Ah, I'd like to ask you... about Xiaoyou's father... err, birth father..."  
"Xiaoyou's father? Why?"  
"I heard from Shancai her father made a promise with her for her birthday, but he passed away... I'd like to ask you in details concerning this matter... because... it will be Xiaoyou's birthday soon, but Xiaoyou does not want to talk about it... I'm sorry if I bother you..."  
"I see... okay, I can tell you more about it,"  
"Thank you! Thank you, Mrs. Jiang! I'll visit your house whenever you have free time,"  
"I'm at home right now and you can visit me before 4 o'clock..." she said.  
"Oh, alright then, I'll visit you in an hour,"  
"Alright, I'll be waiting,"  
"Thank you!"  
They hung up. Ximen feel so relieved. And she seems to have heard about him from Xiaoyou, too. It makes things easier for him. Ximen know Xiaoyou has classes today at campus, so today is perfect timing.

An hour later, after Ximen sort out his works at the office, he arrived at Jiang family's home. It's an apartment on the 2nd floor. He rang the bell. Mrs. Jiang opened the door.

"You're Ximen?"  
"Yes, bomu (auntie)..." Ximen nod.  
She smiled and nod, "Come in,"  
He entered and carefully closed the door. He is tensed as he know he has to show her perfect manner and give her a good first impression.  
"Please... have a seat, I'll make you tea," she lead him to the living room.  
"I don't want to trouble you, bomu,"  
"It's just a tea..."  
"Thank you for your kindness," Ximen took a seat and looked around.  
It's a very simple house with not much decoration. There are family pictures on the wall. Ximen smiled to see Xiaoyou's childhood pictures.  
Mrs. Jiang served him the tea.  
"Xiaoyou was often crying at night till a week ago," she said.  
Ximen widened his eyes, "Is that... so...?"  
"I asked her what happened. In the first two days, she didn't want to say. On the third day, she finally told me about you..."  
Ximen hung his head low in shame, "I see... I'm... I'm very sorry..."  
She smiled, "I was young once too... young couples tend to be emotional about small things. I'm just glad you seem to be a good, well-mannered boy, now I see you with my own eyes..."  
Ximen shook his head humbly, "Ah, no..."  
"So, you're here for...?"  
"This is embarrassing but as you know, my relationship with Xiaoyou is not at its best condition in the past three weeks. We are... in the process of healing now... but we are still keeping a distance... so Xiaoyou didn't seem want to be open about her past..." Ximen explained, he looked up to her, "But I really, really want to do something for her birthday, bomu... Can you please tell me in details about her late father's plan for her 10th birthday back then?"  
She nod and sighed. She seem to be giving it a thought.  
She stared into space, "Where should I start from...?"  
"I'm very sorry, it must be hard for you to recall memories about Xiaoyou's father..."  
"No, it's okay... please wait for a moment..."   
She pulled out a photo album from the cabinet.   
"Xiaoyou's father was an architect. Do you know?" she placed the album on the table and opened it in front of Ximen.  
He nod, "Yes, Shancai told me,"  
"He goes to ancient town's preservation construction sites once every two months. He loved to take pictures on the sites and he showed these pictures to Xiaoyou..."  
Ximen saw many pictures of ancient buildings and ancient water towns scenery. Some are buildings in constructions but some others are beautiful scenery pictures.  
She continued, "He took these pictures even before Xiaoyou was born... Xiaoyou saw the beautiful scenery pictures and asked her father to take her there... Xiaoyou picked ten pictures and he promised her that he would bring her to each of the place in the pictures on her birthday every year. I remember we went to the water towns for her 8th and 9th birthdays..."  
"And for her 10th birthday? Which picture was it?" he asked.  
She stood up, "Come with me,"  
Ximen followed her to a room's door.  
"This is Xiaoyou's room..." she opened it.   
Somehow, Ximen felt his heart pound louder as he saw Xiaoyou's bedroom for the first time. There are a lot of pink and cute animation decorations around. It's a very girly room.   
"This is the picture..." she pointed at the photo stuck at the edge of the mirror on the dressing table.  
Ximen turned around. He saw a picture of typical bridge and river view in an ancient water town. What's unique is that it's sunset time and not all the lanterns are lit up yet. The sunset color and the few lit up lanterns gives a beautiful combination of colors and shades. The clear river reflects the sunset and the lanterns colors on the surface beautifully, too.   
"She never remove this picture for ten years, she always keep it there," Mrs. Jiang said.  
"Where is this?" he asked.  
"We never know..." she shook her head.  
"Even you?"  
"I tried to recall a couple of times. Maybe he mentioned it before to me, but I can never remember... all I can remember is that it's about 2 hours away from Shanghai by car, because we ordered a rental car to go there, a week before Xiaoyou's birthday,"  
Ximen tried to recall, "There are many water towns around Shanghai..."  
"Yes... so, we never know where he was going to take her..."  
Ximen was thinking again, then he asked her, "How about the 8th and 9th birthdays? Were those around Shanghai?"   
She shook her head, "No... we went to Beijing for both birthdays..."  
Ximen sighed, "Bomu... is there no other way to find out where this place is?"  
"I'm sorry... but, that's all I know and I can remember..."  
"I see... may I take a picture of this with my phone?"   
"Of course," she nod, "I'll wait outside,"  
Ximen pulled out his phone and took a picture of the water town view picture. He took it several time till he is satisfied. He looked around the table and realized there is a framed picture of him and Xiaoyou, other than her picture with Shancai. It's a picture of Ximen kissing her cheek while she was shutting her eyes tightly with a big happy smile. They took this picture in a photo sticker booth in a shopping mall on their first month as a couple. He felt something stabbed through his chest when he suddenly ask himself, 'When will we be this close again?'  
Ximen walked out the door and closed it.  
"Thank you very much for your time, bomu, I'm so sorry I bothered you,"  
She shook her head and asked, "Will you try to find the place?"  
He nod, "I will! Now I know it's around Shanghai, it makes it easier for me to find it..."  
She smiled, "I'd be very grateful if you can find it and take her there..."  
He widened his eyes, "Really?"  
"Xiaoyou hasn't been really able to say goodbye to her father... I'm thinking she might be able to let go when she finally visit that place. As you know, I married Mr. Jiang a few years later after her father passed away... Xiaoyou always keep a distance from her stepdad til now... I'm thinking it's because she still can't completely say goodbye to her father yet... and it's really hard for me to see her not being able to celebrate her birthday every year," Mrs. Jiang said with a sad face.   
"Bomu... I love your daughter, I'm serious about her... so I promise I will dedicate my time and energy for this matter..." he said with a firm tone.  
Mrs. Jiang looked impressed, "I see... thank you, thank you..." she smiled, "Please drink your tea,"  
"Oh, right. Thank you," he smiled. He drank the tea she made him.

~*~

_I will give you this sunset..._

~*~

After a few meetings outside, Ximen searched for the water towns around Shanghai in the internet, as soon as he's back to his office. There are ten water towns which are 2 hours away from Shanghai: Tongli, Xitang, Nanxun, Zhujiajiao, Zhouzhuang, Luzhi, Wuzhen, Mudu, Jinxi, and Fengjing. There are more than 20 bridges in each town, so he has to check more than 200 bridges in total. Only two weeks left til her birthday. It's impossible for him to look all of them in two weeks. He need to narrow down the choices. He observed Xiaoyou's father's picture. The river is wide and the houses are relatively big. He searched for the characteristics and various pictures of each town. But he cannot find a clue or any photo that looks identical with the one he's looking for. He sighed and threw his back onto the back of his chair. He still need to look for sponsor for the Shanghai Tea Festival and continue gaining customers within two months, before the red numbers on his company's P/L becomes bigger. He actually doesn't have much time to look for Xiaoyou's water town. He massaged his forehead with no reason. He checked the clock. It's 7pm. Xiaoyou has night shift tonight. The office atmosphere makes him feel headache. He need to see Xiaoyou's face right now, then maybe things will be clearer for him. He was planning to work on a few things at office til 9pm, but he decided to go to Xiaoyou's tea shop now and finish the work tomorrow early morning.

He arrived at the tea shop and there were still a few customers.   
He went to the counter and smiled, "Hi, Xiaoyou,"  
"Ximen..."  
"I'll have anything you recommend me today,"  
"Oh... we have a new one today, Jasmine Green,"  
"I'll have that,"  
Xiaoyou nod and smiled.

Ximen took his milk tea and took a seat. He gazed at Xiaoyou working, for a few minutes. It seems like Xiaoyou is used to the fact that he's around so she never stole any glances at him anymore. Ximen feels a bit sad about that, but he is glad that she is now comfortable with him around. His mind wanders again. He paid attention to her small hands which are moving fast. The hands that had been holding and caressing his neck and hair softly whenever he kissed her. He closed his eyes and imagine the feel of her hands on his neck and hair. He felt goosebumps. He took a deep breath and opened his eyes. 'Dammit, I'm such a pervert! I should be doing some searching!' he pulled his phone. He opened Xiaoyou's dad's water town pic again and paid attention to it closely. He searched for similar pictures from the Shanghai water towns. There are about six water towns that has similar features. Six is still too much. He need to narrow down more. He is thinking of certain keywords. Lanterns in water towns, river in water towns, sunset in water towns, etc. On 'sunset in water towns' he found a link of an article about water towns where sunset can be viewed clearly. 'This is it!!!' he thought. There are five in the list. He need to mix and match between the town features that is similar to Xiaoyou's dad's picture and the sunset list. He searched for more clues. In the end, he narrowed down the choices to: Luzhi, Nanxun and Wuzhen. These three has the most similar features and characteristics with Xiaoyou's dad's picture and sunset can be seen clearly there according to the internet. There are 52 bridges in all three towns. '52 is doable' he thought to himself. He might be able to check about 10 bridges a day, so he only need five days. He didn't realize he has been searching and calculating for more than two hours. 

"Ximen?"  
He found Xiaoyou standing close to his table. He shut off his phone monitor in a hurry.   
"Yeah?"  
"We are closing..."  
"Oh, wow! It's ten already? I didn't realize... uhh, I'll wait outside?" he asked.  
She smiled and nod, "Okay,"  
Xiaoyou and the other staff started cleaning up and get ready to close.  
Ten minutes later, Xiaoyou locked the entrance.   
Ximen came close to her, "You're ready?"  
She nod, "Um!"  
They walked side by side toward the station.  
"I didn't see Shancai lately working in your shop," Ximen said.  
"Shancai has more shifts at the main shop now... also, she might be quitting the Talent's Tea shop soon,"   
"Seriously?" Ximen is surprised.   
Xiaoyou nod sadly, "She said she wants to focus on her chef part time job, because that's what her future profession be,"  
"I see..."  
"She's also currently busy helping out Daoming Si getting ready to move to London, and she's applying for a spouse visa, she said it's a hassle..."  
"Ah, right... Ah Si is moving out to London soon... is Shancai moving there too?"  
"No, she can't until she graduate, but the spouse visa will make it easier for her to go to London any time she wants,"  
Ximen sighed, "Everyone is going somewhere... Lei is moving to Europe too,"  
She widened her eyes, "Really? Why?"  
"He's going to get his master degree in music,"  
"Is it London?"  
"No... he hasn't decided, either Paris or Prague,"  
"Paris!? Then, he'll be together with Jing?"  
He chuckled, "I don't know what his real intention is... but Jing is currently in Africa, as far as I know... I don't know when will she be back to Paris,"  
"Oh, I see..."  
"So, I'm stuck here with Meizuo... urgh, I'm so bored, I meet him everyday now cos he's the event organizer of my Shanghai Tea Festival,"  
Xiaoyou burst out laughing, "I thought you love Meizuo the best,"  
"I hate him the most!"  
"But you also love him the most!"  
"No way!"   
They laughed together.  
Xiaoyou took a deep breath, "Ahh... everyone is moving forward... people's lives changes, doesn't it??" she smiled, looking at the starry sky.   
"But we still have each other right?" he said to her meaningfully.  
Xiaoyou turned around. Ximen is looking into her eyes deeply.  
She looked away and started walking. Ximen started walking too and narrow down his distance with her slowly. He looked at her left hand. It's quite open to be grabbed. Ximen hesitated for awhile, but then he grabbed her hand and hold it.  
Xiaoyou is a bit surprised, but she let him hold it. Somehow, she felt complicated. She's happy but sad, comfortable but anxious, safe but worried. Due to these mixed feelings, after awhile, she let go her hand off of his. And she walked faster leaving him behind. Ximen paused. He looked at his own hand and sighed. "Ximen, jiayou," he said to himself. He rushed ahead to catch up with her.

~*~

_You seem so close yet so out of my reach..._

~*~

"Can you believe that she just let go of my hand like that!? Why!?" he is wandering around his own bedroom in frustration.  
"Ximen, what is the matter with you?" Meizuo sighed.   
"You don't understand. Do you know how it feels when your girlfriend is right in front of you but you cannot touch her like she's behind a display glass window?? Aaargggh..." Ximen threw himself onto his bed.  
"What is going on with you?" Meizuo wrinkled his forehead.  
Ximen stared at the ceiling, "I haven't touched her in three weeks. She let me come close to her but she won't let me touch her. And all I can think of is caressing her skin, hugging her, touching her, kissing her, I feel like a pathetic pervert... She is tormenting me..." he hugged a pillow and started rolling on the bed.  
"Is this your testosterone working?" Meizuo looked bored.  
Ah Si and Lei entered the room, "Hey, are we still going to play billiard?" Ah Si asked.  
Meizuo felt relieved, "Ah Si, Lei, thank god you guys came! Please don't leave me alone with this horny monster!"   
"Ximen, what are you doing? Are you coming with us?" Ah Si looked at him confused.  
"Aaaargggh... Xiaoyouuu...." he buried his face in one of the pillows.  
They glanced at each other and decided to leave Ximen alone.  
"Hey, hey, guys! Wait!" Ximen called them.  
They showed their heads from behind the door.  
"Don't you guys have advice for me? How to stop these pervert thoughts on Xiaoyou?"  
Lei answered, "Go to your Way of Tea thing.... clean your thoughts and calm your mind,"  
Ximen felt so stupid now, "Oh... you're right... okay, I'll do that..."  
"Byeee..." they left.

~*~

_Distance might be better for now, afterall..._

~*~

Ximen started his search of the water town. He planned to go to the water town around sunset, so he empty his work schedule after 4pm any day he can. He went to Luzhi that day. There isn't much tourists in March, so it wasn't as crowded as he thought. There are 16 bridges in total. Each bridge is 1km away from the other. He only managed to check out 8 bridges and none of them look the same as Xiaoyou's dad's picture. He's disappointed but there are still 44 bridges more to visit. He drove back to Shanghai a bit late. Xiaoyou has night shift tonight, he thought he'd arrive there 9pm, but there was an unexpected traffic jam. He texted Xiaoyou that he'll be late, but there is no answer from her. It's 22:05 when he arrived Shanghai and he decided to go to Talent's Tea Shop anyway, since Xiaoyou didn't reply. She might still be waiting. Ximen parked his car and ran toward the shop, it's dark and closed. He looked around. No one's there. He checked his phone. Still no answer from her. He leaned himself onto the glass window and tried to catch his breath. 

"Ximen?"  
He was surprised to hear Xiaoyou's voice, he turned around, "Xiaoyou?"  
She smiled in relief, "Thank god, I thought something happened to you on the road,"  
"I texted you that I'll be late,"  
"Ahh, I'm so sorry, I ran out of battery and I forgot to bring the charger,"  
"Oh, that's why... so you were waiting for me?"  
"I waited at the convenience store bench over there,"  
Ximen stared at her deeply, "You could've gone home, right?"  
Xiaoyou looked into his eyes, ".... yeah, but I haven't met you in two days..."  
"You mean... you're missing me?"  
They looked into each other's eyes, making meaningful eye contacts, before Xiaoyou finally looked away. She didn't answer his question. A few days ago, he'd feel like hugging her again at this kind of moment, but this time he's feeling sad that Xiaoyou still can't admit to any kind of feeling she has for him.   
Ximen took a deep breath, before saying, "May I give you a ride home with my car? We're okay with close distance now, right?"  
"Oh..." she hesitated a bit but then she nod, "Okay..."  
"This way..."

When they arrived at her house, Ximen told her, "Xiaoyou, your birthday is in two weeks, right? Please empty your schedule on your birthday, please have a date with me,"  
She felt her heart pound a bit louder.  
"But..."  
"I know it's your father's death anniversary... we won't celebrate, just please be with me?"  
She hesitated, "Isn't your tea festival on the same day?"  
"We can go out at night, after the festival is over,"  
She was thinking for a few seconds, then she nod.  
Ximen feel so happy. "Really?? This will be our first date in the last one month!"  
Xiaoyou smiled, "I guess so..."   
They looked into each other's eyes. Ximen is smiling happily while Xiaoyou looked nervous.   
"Good night, thank you, Ximen..." she got off the car and entered the apartment building.

"I need to find that water town as soon as possible!" Ximen started the engine.

(to be continued)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What could possibly go wrong on Xiaoyou's birthday!? Stay tune for the last (or maybe not) chapter!!


	7. The Sunset Lanterns - Part 1

It was a week before her birthday, when Ximen suddenly disappeared from Xiaoyou's sight for three days straight. He never appeared in the Talent's Tea Shop anymore. His last text for her was "I'm so sorry, I can't take you home from the shop, in the mean time. Please don't wait for me." without giving any reason. Xiaoyou is wondering. 'Is he tired of waiting for me? Am I being too stubborn?' She can't help but to feel sad. She can't deny she is missing his presence around her. Missing him watching her from afar. But she also realized it's a week before Shanghai Tea Festival, so he must be busy with that, she thought. 'But... to the point of zero visit and zero text message?' It's a battle between two opposite thoughts in her mind. Xiaoyou decided to think positive. 'He must be busy with work.'

Not only Ximen is busy with the tea festival preparations and gaining customer activity, he's getting frustrated that he cannot seem to find the identical view on Xiaoyou's dad's picture after observing more than 40 bridges in Luzhi and Nanxun. He is running out of time. He thought that maybe his deduction method was wrong. Maybe it's not in Luzhi, Nanxun or Wuzhen at all. Maybe it's somewhere else. He spent two days for work and one whole day to search the water towns. Miraculously, he successfully found a new sponsor for the festival, through Meizuo's connection. His project team also gained three customers in two weeks. Things are going quite smoothly at work, so he can focus on the water towns. Aside from these activities, he decided to stop visiting Xiaoyou until the sunset bridge mystery is solved. Lately, he become impatient with Xiaoyou whenever he sees her and it always makes him having certain thoughts and feelings. His progress with Xiaoyou is going good now, he doesn't want to mess it up again. So, Ximen decided to keep a distance with Xiaoyou til her birthday. Most important thing is that he got the date with Xiaoyou on her birthday so he can hold on to that. 

He went to Wuzhen water town that day. He spread the town's map and eliminate bridges where it's impossible to see sunset from, to minimize searching time. There are 12 bridges and he eliminated five, he went through a total 10 km for the rest seven bridges, but none of them was what he was looking for. It was four days before Xiaoyou's birthday. Today was his last chance to find it. He has to work on the tea festival in the next three days. It was already dark. He lost all hope. He decided to ask a local as his last desperate effort. He walked toward a fried pork dumplings seller who was sitting behind his stall. Ximen is feeling hungry too.

"Can I have one please?"  
"Yes, sir!" he stood up and started pouring the soup.  
"Do you happen to know where this is?" Ximen showed him the picture. He printed the picture to a glossy paper at his office.  
The old man squinted his eyes, "Hmm... it looks like Nanxun...?"  
"Nanxun?? I went there, I didn't find it..."  
"I'm pretty sure it's Nanxun, the houses features and characteristics there are quite unique..." he said.  
"Why are you so sure?"  
He chuckled, "I have a brother who live in the Nanxun water town, I go visit him there many times, so I'm familiar with the town... Why are you looking for this place?"  
"It's something... very important for me..." Ximen didn't know how to explain.  
He laughed, "I see... I can give you my brother's number, his name is Gan Hou, he knows a lot about the Nanxun town in details, he might be able to help you, would you like that?"  
"Thank you! I'd appreciate it! I asked a few locals when I was in Nanxun, but none of them know very well..."  
"There are so many bridges in Nanxun, random locals wouldn't know, my brother joined the preservation projects as a worker before, so he know the town in details," he pulled out his phone and touched the screen.  
Ximen felt his heart pound louder when he heard the word "preservation project." He felt like he has find hope.   
He saved Gan Hou's number and started eating his dumplings while thinking on how to empty his schedule in one of the three days. But he can't seem to find a way. He's back to losing hope. 

~*~

_The sunset is close but out of my reach..._

~*~

Two days later, after dinner time, Ximen's team has a meeting with Meizuo's team to have a final discussion about the opening ceremony rundown of the tea festival that will involve cultural performance.

"Okay, last point. We have finalized the arrangement with the local police and district office about the closing of Nanjing Road for the ceremony, but we need confirmation on a few matters from your team..." Meizuo lead the discussion, "First of all, your team will provide the security guards, is this correct?"  
Ximen seems to be deep in thoughts, staring into space.  
Lu Jin, one of Ximen's team member, turned to Ximen and sighed, he answered Meizuo, "Yes we have booked the security guards, there should be no problem..."  
Meizuo glanced at Ximen then back to his document, "Okay, thank you. Secondly, we will set up CCTV cameras on Nanjing road to assure safety of the visitors, and we will be using the room near the teapot exhibition as the CCTV control center, is it already confirmed that we can use that room?"   
"Uhh... that... I'm not sure..." Lu Jin glanced at Ximen and nudged his elbow, "Ximen...! Is it confirmed?"   
Ximen was taken aback and it looks like his mind just landed back to where he is.   
"Huh? Sorry, what?"  
Meizuo repeated, "The room for CCTV control center... did we get the permission already to use that room near the teapot exhibition?"  
"Oh, it's all set, go ahead and use it," Ximen nod.   
"Okay, that's all from me..." Meizuo leaned back on his seat, "Anything from your side?"  
"Our preparation is enough. It is mostly just the execution left. We can arrange whichever things are left through emails. So, I think that's enough for today, thank you everyone," Ximen ended the meeting.  
Everyone left the meeting room. Ximen and Meizuo were left alone.   
"Hard day?" Meizuo asked, "Let me guess... You didn't find Xiaoyou's sunset bridge?"  
Ximen stood up and looked out the glass window, gazing at the city night view.   
"I didn't but I found a clue... the bridge might be in Nanxun..."  
"But...?"  
"But I don't have time left to look for it... two days ago was my last chance to find it... I failed, I can't make her happy in the end... so disappointed in myself..." Ximen poured out everything in his mind right now.   
"What do you need the most right now? Time?" Meizuo asked.  
Ximen turned to him, "What do you mean?"  
"What do you need? Just tell me,"  
Ximen tilted his head a bit, thinking, "Time, yeah... I wish I don't have to deal with the tea festival..."  
"Then, you don't have to, I'll take over your position ... do you trust me with it?" Meizuo firmly offered.   
Ximen wrinkled his forehead, "What do you mean? Take over?"  
"As long as you give me authority, I'll be the decision maker from tomorrow and the festival day, I have seen all the documents and I memorized everything you have in mind about this festival, I'll act as the committee leader on behalf of you,"  
"Wait a minute... wait, Meizuo, are you sure? I don't want this to be a burden for you,"  
"Who says this is a burden? Remember I've always wanted to take charge of everything? This is my chance to prove myself... You're the one who's doing a favor for me," Meizuo give him a big smile.   
"Meizuo..." Ximen can't believe the big favor his bestfriend just offered him.  
"You've done enough planning and preparations for the festival, what is left is the execution, you can leave it to me, no worries... You'll be useless here anyway, your mind is not focused, we don't need a lame leader like you," Meizuo shook his head.   
Ximen smiled, "Meizuo, thanks so much... I'll make the authorization letter and handed it over to Lu Jin tomorrow morning, just call me any time if there's anything you can't decide,"  
Meizuo nod repeatedly, "Yeah, yeah, I know... hurry go home and get some sleep," he walked past him going toward the exit.  
Ximen tapped his shoulder, "Thanks... thanks alot..."  
Meizuo yawned, "Good night!" he raised his hand and left the meeting room.   
Ximen turned back to the city view, lost in thoughts.

~*~

_Stepping closer to you in your world..._

~*~

"Meizuo... is Ximen... okay?"  
Meizuo received a WeChat audio message from Xiaoyou.  
"Yeah, he's perfectly fine, what's up?"  
"Ah... no, just wondering... he hasn't showed up at all at the tea shop lately... and he's not sending texts anymore..."  
"He's very busy with the tea festival right now, Xiaoyou, I hope you understand, he need a lot of focus,"  
Meizuo remember Ximen saying he always get distracted with Xiaoyou so he's keeping a distance.   
"Oh, okay... then, I guess, he's very busy on the tea festival day too?"  
"Yeah, of course! He can't be bothered by anything else on that day,"  
Meizuo exaggerated things so Xiaoyou won't try to reach out to Ximen now.   
"I see... okay, thank you, Meizuo,"  
"No problem!"   
They ended their WeChat conversation.

Xiaoyou is feeling guilty now. She must have been quite a distraction for him in the last one month while he was trying to focus on his busiest time at work. He must be working so hard now to cover up all the time he lost to visit her at the tea shop every now and then, that time. Xiaoyou is thinking about what is the best thing she can do for him now.

~*~

_I'm standing in your way..._

~*~

Ximen talked to the old man, Gan Hou, on the phone before coming and he told him his address in the Nanxun town. He live in the local houses area a little bit apart from the tourism spots. Ximen followed his mobile map. He think he arrived at the house. It's a very old, small house. "Excuse me? Is this Mr. Gan's house?" he knocked the door.  
An old, short man with white hair, opened the door, "Hello... are you Ximen Yan?"  
"Yes, I am," Ximen nod.  
"Ahh come in, come in! Have a seat. How can I help you?" he pulled a wooden chair for Ximen to sit.  
"Thank you for meeting me. As I told you on the phone... I'm looking for this place..." he showed him the picture.  
"Hmm... it does look familiar to me... but I'm not sure where it is..."   
"Your brother said this must be a bridge in Nanxun?"  
"Yes, I also think so, it looks very familiar to me... but I can't exactly remember the location, we can try a few places... would you like that?"   
"Yes, yes... absolutely, I'm sorry for taking your time,"  
He laughed, "I have retired, I don't have anything much to do anyway," he stood up, "This way, we can look around with my bike,"  
"Your brother said you worked for the preservation projects before so you must know the places in details,"   
He laughed, "I'm just an old guy now... I can't remember that much,"  
Ximen ride on the back seat of the bike, "Anything you can remember is fine,"

Ximen and the old man, Gan Hou, tried to look for a few places that were Gan Hou's guesses, but it seems like they were all a miss. However, Ximen could see the places they went to, looks quite similar to the picture and there were a few that Ximen hadn't visit before, because it was not included in the tourism map. These bridges are located around the local houses area. 

"Maybe we can try more places in the houses area, Mr. Gan, it seems like the picture I have looks more like this area,"  
"Yeah, I think so, too"

Gan Hou tried to bring Ximen to a few more places, but they still can't find the bridge in Xiaoyou's father's picture. It was already around 5pm. Ximen almost lose all hope. They decided to take a rest at a nearby snack stall and Ximen is treating him soup dumplings. 

"Thank you very much, Mr. Gan, you helped me a lot today,"  
"What is this place about? Why do you want to find it so much? Care to tell...?"   
The stall owner served their bowls. Gan Hou started eating.  
Ximen cleared his throat, "It's for my... girlfriend..."  
Gan Hou laughed, "You're a typical young man in love,"  
Ximen felt a bit embarrased but he continued, "When she was ten, her father promised her that he would bring her to this place for her birthday, but then he passed away on her birthday...."  
"Ohh, that is so sad..."  
"I just heard this story from her mother recently, so I'd like to find this place and show her what her father wanted to show her ten years ago..."  
Gan Hou didn't answer. It looks like he's in deep thoughts.  
"Mr. Gan? What's wrong?"  
"Is your girlfriend's father's name is Mr. Huang Yao?" he wrinkled his forehead.  
Ximen just realized he never knew her birth father's name.   
"I--- I don't know... do you know him? He was an architect in charge of preservation projects..."  
Gan Hou widened his eyes, "It might be him! Finish your bowl, I'll show you something!"  
"So you know him? His daughter's name is Xiaoyou,"  
"I don't know, I'm not sure... and I don't remember his daughter's name but maybe it's him..."  
They finished their bowls in a hurry and then on his bike, Gan Hou took Ximen to an old warehouse.

As they walked toward the warehouse, Gan Hou told him, "I was acquainted with Mr. Huang Yao, the architect leader of a preservation project here in Nanxun more than ten years ago." he opened the door and walked inside.   
Ximen could feel the dust and dirty air inside and the smell inside is not really nice. But as he listen to his story, he feel more convinced he is talking about Xiaoyou's father.  
"We were still well acquainted even after the project was over, since he visited here once in awhile. About ten years ago, he asked me to keep these for him, he said it was a surprise for her daughter's birthday... but then he never came...."  
He removed a white sheet and revealed a box filled with worn out paper lanterns.   
"Normally, I should have thrown this away since paper lanterns does not last more than three years... but he trusted me with these, it belongs to him so I don't have the rights to throw these away... who knows he will come back someday, so I keep them here as it is..." he explained and pulled out one of the lanterns and handed it over to Ximen.  
The colorful paper lantern is in the shape of flower, but it has worn out, eaten by insects.  
"What was he planning to do with these lanterns?" Ximen asked.  
"These are floating lanterns, he asked me to float these on the river when he come visit with his daughter,"  
"I see..."  
Ximen checked the other lantern with a different shape that seems to have characters written on them.  
"Ahh this one says happy birthday, I think..."  
Ximen tried to pull out one of them, "There is a name..." the paper he touched immediately crushed into pieces, so he just tried to wipe the dust, "Xiaoyou..." he's stunned and turned to Gan Hou, "It's exactly the same characters as my girlfriend's name,"  
"So, Huang Yao must be really her father!"  
"I think he is!"  
Gan Hou suddenly hit his own forehead, "Ack! Now I remember! The place in your picture is just right behind this warehouse! Come on!"  
Gan Hou lead the way and Ximen followed him outside. They went around the warehouse and had to walk past bushes, about ten metres away, they reached a bridge.  
"I think this was the place Mr. Huang told me to float the lanterns when her daughter comes, please check your picture!"  
Ximen pulled out the picture from his pocket and compared the view. The houses looks a bit different and newer. There's a tree branch that was not there before, entering the view range, but other than that, the view is exactly the same. It's almost sunset, the hanging lanterns on each houses are lit up. The clear water of the river reflects the lanterns lights perfectly.   
Gan Hou took a peek of the picture that Ximen is holding, "Yup this is it! We found it! Congrats!" he laughed happily.  
Ximen felt goosebumps. 'Xiaoyou, I found it!' he thought to himself. He felt so touched by the view right in front of him. Then, he imagined that Xiaoyou's father was planning to float those lanterns on the water surface over there. He can imagine 10-years-old Xiaoyou would clap her hands in excitement to see them.   
Ximen turned to Gan Hou, "Mr. Gan, do you know where to get those lanterns? I want to show her what her father intended her to see ten years ago..."  
Gan Hou smiled, "It'll be difficult to search for a place that sell the lanterns in the exact same shape. It'll be easier and faster if we just recreate them, I have all of the materials in my house... would you like to do that?"  
"Yes, yes, I'd like that... Do you have time to help me?"   
"No problem, today is my off day..." he laughed.  
"How long do you think it will take?"  
"Maybe 3-4 hours?"  
Ximen looked at his watch: 6.12 PM. He nod.

~*~

_I saw it... your world...it's so beautiful..._

~*~

(to be continued)


	8. The Sunset Lanterns - Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I suggest you to play "I'm Going Crazy Thinking About You" both Caesar Wu's and Clover Kao's version, as well as both instrumental version in loop, while reading this chapter, LOL (Kiki's Love Exist would also be a great addition)

Ximen woke up in his own bedroom. It's 12pm. Last night, he made the lanterns together with Gan Hou till about 10pm. He called Mrs. Jiang before that to confirm Xiaoyou's father's name and Huang Yao is correct. He told her he found it and he'll take Xiaoyou there. After he made the lanterns with Gan Hou, he thanked him and handed him thank you money in red envelope which Gan Hou happily accepted. He stopped by at office to pick up documents that Meizuo asked him to check and confirm, then he arrived home about 2am and crashed onto his own bed. He slept for ten hours. It might be his most peaceful and comfortable sleep in the last one month. He checked his phone. So many notifications he didn't check since last night. He scrolled and stopped when he saw Xiaoyou's name. It's a WeChat text message.

"Ximen, I'm sorry I have to cancel our date tomorrow. I have to help my mother with her urgent business matter. I'm sure you're very busy too, today. Let's re-arrange for another day."

Ximen's eyes widened and he almost fell off his bed.  
"Wait, there is no other day!!" he said to himself. He immediately make a call to Xiaoyou, but there's no answer. 

Then, he dialed Mrs. Jiang's number.  
"Hello, Mrs. Jiang,"  
"Yes?"  
"I'm sorry to disturb you, bomu. Is Xiaoyou there with you?"  
"No, she's not, what's the matter?"  
"She canceled our date for today and now I can't contact her,"  
"Oh... really?"  
"She said she has to help you,"  
"What? She said that...? I have no plans with her at all today, she said she has somewhere to go to,"  
Somehow, Ximen knew she made an excuse, "I see... Do you know where she is now?"  
"I don't know, she didn't say..."  
"Okay, thank you,"  
"I'll try call her and let you know,"  
"Thank you very much, bomu!"  
They hung up. He called Shancai next but no answer.  
He called Ah Si.  
"yeah?"  
"Hey, is Shancai with you?"  
"Nope"  
"Where is she? I called her, but she didn't answer,"  
"Ahh... she's working at the restaurant now, its busy hour, she can't answer the phone,"  
"Damn..."  
"What do you need her for?"  
"I'm looking for Xiaoyou, never mind, thanks!" he hung up.

Ximen is thinking hard. It's Saturday. She doesn't have class today. He decided to try visit Talent's Tea Shop. Xiaoyou doesn't have work shift there today, as far as he can remember. But he decided to go check. He took a quick shower and picked up some bread in the kitchen to fill in his stomach. He drove his car to the tea shop. He could see from afar, the two part-time staff behind the counter are neither Xiaoyou nor Shancai. He doesn't think these staff know where Xiaoyou is but he asked them just in case. Answer was negative, as expected. 

'It has to be today, otherwise it'll have less meaning to her...' Ximen thought to himself.

He tried to call Xiaoyou again. Unexpectedly, she picked up.  
"Xiaoyou!?"  
"Ximen...?"  
He felt so relieved she finally answered, "Why did you cancel our date?"  
"I told you... I have to help my mother..."  
"I called your mother, she said she has no plans with you today,"  
"What? You called my mother!? Since when you know her--?"  
He interrupted her, "Look, Xiaoyou, I'm going to show you something today, something very important to you, please meet me,"  
"What are you talking about? Isn't today's your important day? Meizuo told me, you can't be bothered at all today..."  
"You talked to Meizuo?? When?"  
"Ximen, you have something more important to do today, please just focus on that. I have something more important to do too... we can meet tomorrow..."  
"Xiaoyou! Today's your birthday!"  
She paused for awhile, "That's not important... Ximen, please just do what you have to do today, don't look for me okay?"  
"Wait... where are you!?"  
She hung up. Ximen is flustered.  
'She has something more important to do... what does she mean?' he asked himself.  
'There were a lot of noises around her, it sounds like she is somewhere busy, but where?' he thought. 

He tried calling her again, but she's not picking up. He decided to call Meizuo.  
"Yeah? Ximen? Everything's going smooth here! No need to worry," Meizuo sounds like he's in a very good mood.  
"What did you tell Xiaoyou the other day? She canceled our date today,"  
"What? What did I say??"  
"She said you told her I can't be bothered today!"  
"What? When did... Ohh... yeah.... I did, but it's true right? Aren't you still looking for the bridge today for her birthday next week?"  
Ximen rolled his eyes and sighed, "I have found it and her birthday is today!"  
"Ohh... shit.... I didn't know that..."  
Ximen sighed again, "Okay... never mind... Uhh... just call me if anything comes up related to the festival, thanks for taking over,"  
"Yeah, no problem... so sorry about Xiaoyou..."  
"It's okay," he hung up the phone.

He's thinking what he should do next. He has no clue where she is. He cannot bother Shancai now she is busy with work. He decided to drive to her house in case she's coming back home. He rang the doorbell and her mother opened the door.

"Oh, bomu, you're home!"  
"Come in... I tried to call her twice, but she didn't pick up," she let Ximen in, she's holding her phone, "Let me try call her again..."  
"She picked up my phone but she hung up before I could ask her where she is..."  
"I see..." she is listening to a ringtone, then it's picked up.  
"Mom? What's the matter?"  
"Where are you? Why didn't you pickup my calls?"  
"Uhh... sorry, I'm in a festival, it's very busy here, I can't hear my ringtone..."  
"Festival? What festival??"  
"Shanghai Tea Festival... Ximen's project..."  
"Shanghai Tea Festival??" her mom repeated for Ximen to hear.  
Ximen widened his eyes, he made a 'thank you' gesture to Mrs. Jiang and immediately left the house.  
"Ma... since when are you in contact with Ximen? I'm really surprised, why didn't you tell me?" Xiaoyou asked.  
"Xiaoyou... Ximen is now looking for you, listen to what he say carefully when he finds you, he will tell you everything, it's best you hear directly from him, okay?"  
Xiaoyou wrinkled her forehead, "What? Ximen is looking for me? But how-- Ma, what's going on??"  
"He is such a good and handsome boy and he loves you very much... you're very lucky,"  
"You met... him?"  
Mrs. Jiang chuckled, "We'll talk when you come back home, make sure you have a great birthday today, okay?"  
"Ma..."  
Xiaoyou's mother hung up and smiled. She looked at the door and apparently Ximen properly closed the door without a sound. 

Ximen is driving his car toward the Nanjing Road direction where the Shanghai Tea Festival is held.  
'Xiaoyou... something more important for you to do... is to attend my tea festival?'  
Ximen felt touched when he realized this, but he also think his festival is nothing important compared to what he's gonna show her today.  
He arrived at Nanjing Road. There are thousands of visitors in the open road. He was taken aback to see the view of sea of people in front of him. 'How am I gonna find Xiaoyou in this crowd?' He remember there are CCTV cameras set up at certain spots and the control center is inside the Tea Culture Square building at the corner of the road. He made a call to Meizuo.

"Yeah?"  
"Meizuo, Xiaoyou is here in the festival, but she's not picking up my calls. Can you please check from the CCTV room, maybe you can spot her from one of the cameras?"  
"Okay, on it... I'll call you again soon,"  
"Okay..." they hung up.  
He started looking around the herbal tea brand stalls, it was quite packed so he can't freely move either. He can hear voice of announcement about the festival and also security warning once in awhile through the speakers set up at certain spots. It's like finding a needle in a haystack. It will be a miracle for him to find her in this crowd without a clue.  
He felt his phone vibrated.  
"Meizuo?"  
"I think I saw her! But she's now gone from the camera range,"  
"Where did you see her?"  
"Around the tea ceremony demonstration booths,"  
"Is that section C in our layout plan?"  
"Yes, correct,"  
"Okay, thanks, I'll try to look," he hung up the phone. 

He checked the clock display, it's 3pm. They need to leave soon for Nanxun if he want to reach there by sunset. There is not much time left. He need to find Xiaoyou this very second. He rushed over through the crowd. He is recalling his memory of the layout drawing to find section C where the tea ceremony booths are located. He found them. But not Xiaoyou. He took a look at every booth, but she's not there. He looked around but she is nowhere in sight. 'What to do now?' he asked himself.

"Ximen...?"  
He heard Xiaoyou's voice from behind him. He turned around in surprise.  
Xiaoyou is standing right behind him, looking confused.  
"Xiaoyou!" he grabbed both her shoulders, "I've been looking for you everywhere!"  
He's so happy he finally found her. He grabbed her hand.  
"Come on, let's go! There's no time!" he pulled her.  
But, Xiaoyou is standing still and resisted him. She removed her hand from his.  
"What are you doing?" she asked in confusion.  
"Xiaoyou... I found it...."  
"You found what?"  
"The place in your father's picture, the one he wanted to show you on your 10th birthday,"  
She's stunned.  
"What? That's impossible... no one know where that is, not even my mom knows,"  
"I searched it, Xiaoyou, I went to many places to find it, I found it,"  
Xiaoyou is taken aback. She cannot process what he is saying properly. It's a place that means the world for her. She has been yearning for it for ten years. And now suddenly her boyfriend is saying he has found it. As if he found it so easily. As if it's nothing. She can't accept it well. She's confused.  
He grabbed her hand again, "I want to show it to you, we have to go now, before we miss it,"  
But, Xiaoyou is in a totally different state of mind than Ximen.  
"Wait... I don't understand.... Ximen, are you just going to leave your festival? Isn't it still going til night? Don't you have more important thing to do?"  
Ximen chuckled, "Xiaoyou, the place I want to show you is more important,"  
She let go her hand off of his, "Isn't this your first big business project since you graduated? Isn't this festival is very important for you? Ximen, I know that you were in trouble, because you had to cut one sponsor, because of me. I know I caused you other troubles. I don't want to stand in your way anymore. We can go to that place another day," she said firmly.  
Ximen is surprised. 'So, that is what she has been thinking.' he thought.  
"Xiaoyou, enough thinking about me... it's about you now! It has to be today or it's meaningless!" he didn't realize he raised his tone.  
"Why!?" Xiaoyou sighed in desperation, "Ximen, am I wrong again?"  
"What...?"  
"I'm trying so hard to understand you and your world. Now I'm standing in your world, and you refuse to be here. I can't seem to understand anymore. Please don't make me more guilty than I already am..." she's in tears.  
Ximen is stunned. 'She's feeling guilty?' he thought.  
"I'll go with you someday but not today, Ximen..." she shook her head.  
Several men carrying heavy boxes are going through crowd, "Excuse us, excuse us!!"  
They were separated. Xiaoyou took the chance to turn around and leave him.

Ximen is in awe. He is speechless. He could only watch her from afar. Then, she is gone from his sight, immersed into the crowd.

'Why is it so hard for us to communicate? Why are we always not in the same place? Why do we always miss each other? Why do we always misunderstand each other? She doesn't want to stand in my way. She wants just the best for me. If I force her to go, I'd make her feel guilty. Should I give up? But her father's sunset cannot wait. Maybe we can go another day... but what is the meaning of going there another day that is not on her birthday? My gut tells me today is our only chance. I need to make her understand. I need to fix our miscommunication. How? She is not listening to me. How to make her listen? Should I drag her to a quiet place and force her to have a long talk about this? How to make her listen?'

Ximen is lost in his thoughts while slowly walking in the crowd. He is walking and walking without any direction. He could still hear the announcement through the speakers. Announcement about the available booths and sections. Which stall and booth will close at what time. Everyone in Nanjing road can hear this. 

'Everyone...' Ximen thought to himself. 

Coincidentally, he saw the podium where a lady make the announcement. She is talking through the microphone. She know the lady, she is his office employee. 

'Have you gone crazy, Ximen? No, for the first time, my mind is very clear.' two different sides of him is having a dialogue. Ximen started walking toward the lady. This is his last resort. He reached the podium. The lady noticed him but she's still in the middle of announcing, so she continued, but she lowered her head to Ximen a bit, since he is her boss. Ximen nod. He waited til she finished.

"Miss Chen, may I have the mic, please?"  
"Oh... okay, here..."

She handed over the mic to her boss. Ximen held the mic and give it a thought of what to say for a bit. He stared into space then he took a deep breath. 

"Attention to Jiang Xiaoyou. Attention to Jiang Xiaoyou..." Ximen said through the mic, in a calm and firm voice.

Xiaoyou is shocked to hear her name through the speaker. She recognized Ximen's voice. She turned around. Gazed at the speaker in surprise. 

Ximen continued, "Xiaoyou, if you hear this... please just listen to me for a bit. Seems like it's very hard for us to communicate right now. But I need to make you understand about something. So please listen what I have to say through the speaker near you."

There is no doubt that the content of the announcement through the speakers this time, highly attracted the festival's visitors' attention this time. Almost everyone in Nanjing road stopped what they are doing and decided to listen.

It can be heard through speakers inside the Tea Culture building as well. Meizuo stared at the speaker, then covered his face with his hand, feeling embarrassed, "He's gone crazy..."

Ximen's voice is heard again through the speakers.  
"I think... I fell in love with you at first sight, Xiaoyou. The moment I walked in to your tea shop for the first time. I just didn't realize it. I kept approaching you in many ways. Gazes, pick up lines, touches, and I offered you comfort too. I was more upset than I should, when you get hurt. I felt like protecting you when you showed your weakness. I was so blind that I didn't realize I was already in love with you..." 

Xiaoyou felt something stabbed through her heart when she hear this. She is confused. 

"I kept knocking your heart and before I knew it, you opened up for me. And I was suddenly scared. I have been wearing a mask for so long, and you cracked it open a bit. But I couldn't face my own feelings. So I tried to shut you off of my life. You tried to open the gate to my heart by force, endlessly knocking hard, and it was driving me mad. Then, I finally realized my own deep feelings for you, but I tried to kill it off."

Flashes of memory came hit Xiaoyou's mind. _The time he rejected her confession. The time they had a date and went to the hotel. The time they had an argument after they walked out of the bar._ She started slowly walking to a certain direction. 

"But you didn't give up and you keep accepting, loving me. No one else ever love me the way you do. I'm such a big mess, you know that. But you accepted my whole being. I still can't believe it. I was so scared of your huge love for me that I didn't realize I let you strive alone. I always let you struggle hard in my world, but I never even step into your world. I was selfish. I realized I made a huge mistake. I left you in the cold when you were struggling so hard. I'm so sorry, Xiaoyou. I really don't know how to make it up to you."

Xiaoyou is in tears, but she's not confused anymore. She is looking around, looking for the source of the voice on the speakers. 

"I heard about your late father and the place he wanted to show you on your 10th birthday. So I decided to search for the place without even once forgetting my responsibilities at work and my responsibilities as a part of the society. It's all about priorities and time management. You are right, this festival is very important for me, but you are too, Xiaoyou. You are very important to me. I have let Meizuo to take over authority for this festival, you don't have to worry about that. I've done my part for this project. Now, I need to do my part for us." 

She found the podium. She saw Ximen standing there. She went closer to the podium. After awhile, Ximen noticed her and he gazed at her deeply.

"I know this place is something that means a lot to you. It has to be today. Or we will miss it, Xiaoyou. Our 'once in a lifetime' moment..." 

Ximen handed the mic over to the lady next to her, without looking away from Xiaoyou. He went down to the ground and walked closer to her. They stared at each other lovingly. Ximen smiled to her. Xiaoyou wiped her tears and smiled, "You're a huge idiot..." He nod and chuckled, "I am..." he stretched out his hand to her "Will you go with me?" "Where?" she asked. "Nanxun... let's go to Nanxun together..." he said.  
Xiaoyou accepted her hand. He smiled. He pulled her running toward his parked car, leaving thousand pairs of eyes that has been watching them for a while. 

As soon as they reached the car and Ximen started the engine, he told her the story.  
"I visited your mother to ask her about details of the place,"  
"You met my mother? When?"  
"I think two weeks ago. She told me it was a water town two hours by car from Shanghai, because she remember they ordered rental car a week before..."  
Xiaoyou is surprised, "Oh... I didn't even know that..."  
"She never told you that?" Ximen is also surprised.  
She shook her head, "Everytime I asked her where the place is, she always answered she don't know or she can't remember... so I really have no clue... Then?? How did you find it?"  
"There are about ten water towns around Shanghai and there are hundreds of bridges, I had to narrow down the choices to three, I had to check 52 bridges, but it was so hard to find it cause it is apparently a bridge that is not included in the tourism map..."  
Xiaoyou is stunned, "Ximen... you were gone for a week, so you were busy going around the water towns?"  
Ximen smiled, "I was really curious, I wanted to see what your father wanted to show you,"  
Xiaoyou sighed, "You shouldn't have done that..."  
"You climbed thousands of stairs for me before... why shouldn't I gone through hundreds of bridges for you?" he smirked.  
Xiaoyou turned to him and smiled, "Thank you... so, how did you end up in Nanxun?"  
"When I was in Wuzhen, I met a dumplings seller who told me the picture is definitely in Nanxun, he introduced me to his brother who live in Nanxun. I met him and apparently he knows your father, your father's name is Huang Yao?"  
She widened her eyes, "Yes! He knows him?"  
"Your name was Huang Xiaoyou, back then?"  
She nod.

Ximen continued telling her the story on how he found the bridge in Nanxun, but he left out details about the lanterns because he wants it to be a surprise for her. The road and highway were smooth. They didn't have to go through traffic jam. They reached Nanxun water town around 5.30pm. Ximen parked the car and held her hand. They walked toward the entrance gate. But then Xiaoyou stopped walking. She let go off her hand of Ximen's. Xiaoyou gazed at the tall ancient-shaped gate. It reminds her of her late father who has deep love for history and ancient buildings. She clutched onto her own shirt near her chest. 

"What's the matter? Are you okay?" he asked.  
"Ximen... this is hard for me. I feel my father is very close just by seeing this gate... I always visited water towns together with him. Please... give me time..." she looked nervous.  
Ximen nod, "I understand,"

Xiaoyou tried to calm herself down and gathered her courage to face all the memories she has of her birth father that she has closed down long time ago. She took a deep breath. She is ready. She nod to Ximen, "Please hold my hand,"

Ximen smiled and held her hand. They went inside together. There is a ticket window near the entrance. Ximen paid for two tickets. He held her hand and lead her the way to the place in her father's picture. Xiaoyou felt goosebumps to see the view of the ancient town. It reminds her so much of her father and her childhood. She has never been to Nanxun before, but it has similar sceneries with other water towns she has visited with her father before. He'd hold her hand just like how Ximen held her hand now. She saw snack stalls and she remember how she'd ask her father she wants those snacks and they'd stop by to buy and eat the snacks. She didn't realize a tear fell on her face. It was a long walk as the bridge is apart from the tourism spots. The sky is getting darker and it's just about time for sunset. They're getting closer and Ximen stopped. 

"Are you ready?" he pulled out her father's picture and showed it to her.  
She stared at the picture and looked up to Ximen's eyes. She took a deep breath and nod.

Suddenly, Ximen made a phone call.  
"Hello? Yes, we're here... please, carry on..."  
He hung up.  
"Who is it?" she asked.  
"You'll find out later... Here it is, Xiaoyou... the place your father wanted to show you on your 10th birthday..."

They made a turn to the right and they saw a bridge above the clear, flowing river with houses on the sides. Lanterns hanging on each house are lit up. The reflection of the lanterns on the river shows beautiful mix of colors and shades. At the end of the view, the orange sunset sky is clearly visible. The whole view right in front of her eyes looks exactly the same as her father's picture, the place she yearned for, for ten years. She can't believe that she's finally here. She is overwhelmed. 

"Xiaoyou, look..." he pointed at the river.

Suddenly, hundreds of floating flower-shaped paper lanterns in rainbow color flowing above the river just right in front of them. There are lanterns with different shape and color floating in between the flower lanterns. They are square shaped and yellow colored lanterns. There are characters written on them, it says "Happy Birthday, Princess Xiaoyou"

Ximen smiled, "Your father called you 'princess'...?"

Xiaoyou didn't answer and instead, asked him, "Ximen, this is...?"

"Mr. Gan said your father asked him to keep these lanterns for him and take them out when you were suppose to visit here on your 10th birthday... he kept them all these time, but of course, the lanterns were worn out already, so we had to recreated them... but this is what your father intended to show you on your birthday ten years ago," he explained.

She can't hold back anymore. All kind of feelings mixed up inside her seeing the scenery right in front of her. She started sobbing. She can hear her father's voice clearly. What he said to her before when she asked him about the picture. _"The lanterns will lit up on sunset time and the river's reflection will look very beautiful... You'll see it for yourself one day..."_

She is crying loud.  
"Xiaoyou..." Ximen's heart is breaking to see her like this.  
"I saw him, Ximen... I just saw him waving goodbye to me..." she sobbed hard. 

Ximen nod and embraced her in his arms tightly, offering her comfort. Xiaoyou cried her heart out on his chest and she put her arms around his waist, holding him back tightly, accepting the comfort he gave her.

~*~

_Dad... I love you... goodbye..._

~*~

(to be continued)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The final chapter will be up in the next 24 hours!


	9. Princess

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: ULTRA HIGH LEVEL OF FLUFFINESS AND CHEESINESS :) :)

After Xiaoyou squeezed all her tears out and calmed herself down, they continued to gaze at the beautiful scenery for the next 30 minutes until the sky gone completely dark.

"I grew fond of Chinese history because of my father's stories. As a child, I was mostly fond of stories about princesses in the history... I told him I want to be a princess too. Every time we went to these towns, I would pretend to be a princess and he treated me like a princess... that's why he called me Princess Xiaoyou... it's silly, isn't it?" Xiaoyou laughed.  
Ximen chuckled, "It's cute..."  
"Ximen.... thank you... it's extremely beautiful... I--" she turned to him, "I really don't know what to say..."  
Ximen smiled, "I'm really happy as long as you're happy... Are you? Are you happy with this?"  
"I'm so happy, you have no idea... I feel relieved, you lifted the burden in my chest that has been there for so long... I could finally say goodbye to my father... thank you, really... thank you is really not enough to express how I feel now...." Xiaoyou moved closer and hugged Ximen.  
"I'm so glad... I was worried I'd make you more depressed..." he hugged her back.  
"Of course not!" she looked up to him, smiling.  
Ximen smiled.  
Xiaoyou glanced at the lanterns, "Eh, let's take a selfie with these lanterns as the background?"  
"Okay!" Ximen pulled out his phone.

It took them awhile for them to search for the right angle. They both have to bend down. Ximen is pushing the camera button a few times, making sure he got the right angle. Their cheeks are pressed together. Xiaoyou pulled herself a bit and turned to him. She gently gave his cheek a long kiss. Ximen was a bit surprised but he stayed still, letting her kiss his cheek. Then, she buried her face on his shoulder.

"Ximen, thank you so much, so much, you have no idea how much this means to me..."  
He turned to her, "I know... I know how much this means to you... and you know I'll do anything for you, right?" Ximen lifted up her chin with his fingers. They stared into each other's eyes, "Happy birthday, Xiaoyou..."  
Ximen placed his lips on hers gently and slowly, trying not to startle her. To his surprise, she immediately accepted his kiss and responded back. Ximen placed his arms on her waist and back with his hand still holding his phone.  
They stopped kissing and let their foreheads pressed to each other's.  
He said, "This last one month you were out of my reach, made me realize, just how much I love you, Xiaoyou... I missed you so much," they gazed into each other's eyes deeply.  
"I love you so much too, Ximen..." she said.  
Ximen started kissing her again, this time, in a more daring way. Xiaoyou had a bit of hard time to keep up with his lips' move because she didn't expect his hunger for her. She had to stop him, "Ximen, people are watching..." 

It's a quiet place compared to the center of the tourism area, but there are a few passerbys there. 

They looked at each other. Ximen chuckled. Xiaoyou giggled. He grabbed her hand, "Come on, I'll introduce you to Gan Hou!" "Who?" she asked.

Ximen brought her to the old warehouse where Gan Hou was waiting.  
"Ohh! You're Mr. Huang's daughter! Princess Xiaoyou, you're very pretty! I can't believe I finally get to meet you after ten years!" he laughed.  
Xiaoyou gave him a big smile, "I'm so happy to meet you too. Ximen told me, you kept the lanterns all these time, thank you very much for doing that,"  
"Oh, it's nothing... it's over here, come, let me show you," Gan Hou lead her the way inside. He pulled up the white sheet covering the big box filled with worn out lanterns.  
"These were the lanterns your father asked me to keep about five days before your birthday... ten years ago..." he explained.  
Xiaoyou felt so moved to see them. They are crushed into pieces eaten by time, but it felt like the most precious things Xiaoyou have ever seen. She crouched down to touch a few of the dusty paper lanterns.  
Ximen crouched next to her, "I've taken pictures of these lanterns, I can send them to you later,"  
She turned to him, "Thank you..." she turned back and gazed at the lanterns. She is feeling many kind of feelings gazing at them.  
Ximen understand these lanterns that has no actual use anymore, has very important value for Xiaoyou.  
"Mr. Gan and me will be at the door waiting for you when you're ready," he said to her gently.  
She's confused, "Ah? What do you mean?"  
"Take a look at them as much as you want, I know you need time, it's okay..." he tapped on her shoulder and stood up. He asked Gan Hou to wait at the door with him, leaving Xiaoyou alone with the lanterns. 

She felt so moved Ximen understand her feelings now. She stared at the lanterns one by one. Thinking of: Where did her father get them? How did he get the idea? What was he feeling? What was his intention? A few drops of tears fell on her face. She just stared at them for a few minutes. Reminiscing her father. Then, she's finally ready. She wiped away her tears. She stood up and walked toward the door.

"Mr. Gan... you can throw them away... thank you very much," she said firmly, while smiling.  
"Are you sure?" Gan Hou asked.  
She firmly nod, "Thank you for keeping them these ten years and let me see them with my own eyes, I can't thank you enough,"  
Gan Hou nod and gave her a big smile, "I feel relieved now. I can finally throw them away without any regret,"  
"I'm sorry that it became a burden for you these ten years," Xiaoyou apologized.  
"Not at all! What you need to know is your boyfriend here worked so hard making the flower paper lanterns till late night... you're such a lucky girl!" he laughed.  
Xiaoyou smiled and turned to Ximen.  
She asked Gan Hou, "How long did it take for you two to make the lanterns?"  
Ximen interrupted, "Never mind about that already..."  
Gan Hou laughed and changed the topic, "Your father had always been very kind to me... this is just to repay a friend's kindness..."  
"Thank you very much, Mr. Gan, we should stay in contact... I don't know much people who know my father,"  
"Yes, yes, of course, of course,"  
"Mr. Gan, thank you very much for all your help, we will be visiting you again someday, let's keep in touch," Ximen said before they left.  
"It's really an honor for me to get to know you two..." Gan Hou smiled and nod.

From the old warehouse, they strolled around the town holding hands while Xiaoyou telling Ximen more about her childhood. They went to have dinner in a restaurant nearby. They ordered a few local dishes to share.

"Xiaoyou... can I ask you something? Why did you say there was something more important for you to do today? Was it about coming to my festival?" Ximen said while eating his food.  
"Of course it's a very important thing for me! The Shanghai Tea Festival is your creation, no? It's your first big, real business project since you graduated Mingde. I had to be there. I wanted to see your creation with my own eyes,"  
Ximen felt touched, "Xiaoyou...."  
"The opening ceremony with the cultural performances were really beautiful!! Where were you that time? I thought you were there," she asked.  
He cleared his throat, "I think I was still asleep..."  
She sighed, "I can't believe it. I was very excited and really looking forward to that festival when you told me for the first time, like two months ago! So I was really shocked when you asked me that we should leave, I wanted to see everything til it finishes,"  
He chuckled, "I see... so that was where we missed each other...."  
"Huh?"  
"My mind was totally filled with your world today.... but your mind was still left behind in my world," he laughed, "So that's why we had miscommunication... Interesting..."  
Xiaoyou stared at him and shyly smiled, "Does that mean... we're so into each other...?"  
"I guess so..." he stopped eating and just gazed at her deeply and lovingly.  
Xiaoyou suddenly felt shy and looked away.  
"And why did you make that public confession? That was so embarrassing!" she pouted.  
He chuckled, "I was desperate, I didn't know how else I could make you listen,"  
"Everyone was listening, you know!"  
"Let them listen... I wanted the whole world to know my love for you,"  
She giggled, "Stop it!"  
He gazed at her again, smiling, "You're really cute when you're blushing,"  
"I'm not! Stop looking at me like that!"  
"Like what?"  
"Like... like you want to eat me..." she laughed.  
"Well... I am hungry...." he nod and smirked.  
They glanced at each other and laughed. 

After dinner, they walked around the town again. There weren't much tourists that night. They enjoyed the sceneries and took pictures together. They decided to take a rest in the lotus garden. The lotus flowers bloomed and they're pink colored. They took a seat on one of the benches, enjoying the night view of the garden. Ximen has his right arm around her shoulder and Xiaoyou placed her arms around his waist and rested her head on his chest.

"Are we okay?" Ximen suddenly asked.  
"What do you mean okay?" she asked him back.  
"Are you still mad at me?"  
"I was never mad at you," she shook her head.  
"Then what did you feel this one month?"  
"I just felt so faraway from you..."  
"Do you still feel like I'm faraway?"  
Xiaoyou looked up to him and smiled, "I've never felt this close to you, Ximen, I feel so close to you now..."  
Ximen smiled and he couldn't hold back himself to kiss her lips. He give her a gentle, light, caring, loving kiss for her.  
"I'm sorry I made you feel lonely, it was my fault," he said with his lips still one inch away from hers.  
She shook her head.  
He continued, "I'm now here for you..." he kissed her again.  
Ximen escalated his lips moves and his tongue begged her lips to open an entrance. Xiaoyou opened up and let his tongue entered and roamed around her mouth deeper. They were enjoying kissing each other so deeply when Xiaoyou finally broke the kiss.  
They pressed their foreheads to each other's. Both catching their breath.  
"This is crazy..." Xiaoyou chuckled.  
"What?"  
"I don't wanna say... I feel embarrassed to say it..." she shyly smiled.  
"What? Tell me," he raised her chin up.

"Excuse me! We are closing!" they could hear the security guard. He is pointing a flashlight at them. They were surprised.

"Ah, alright, we are just leaving!" Ximen answered. They giggled.  
Ximen grabbed her hand, "Come on, let's go home..."  
Xiaoyou is not moving but let him held her hand, "Ximen, I don't wanna go home..."  
Ximen stared at her in confusion, "What? We can't stay here...."  
She shook her head, "No, I mean... *I* don't wanna go home.... I just want to spend the whole night with you..." she hugged his waist and rest her head on his chest.  
Ximen widened his eyes. His thoughts gone wild. He is speechless.  
'Is she saying about what I have been dreaming about? Is it okay to think this way?' he thought to himself.  
Ximen staying silent, made Xiaoyou worried.  
"Ximen? You don't want to?"  
"No, no! Of course, I'd love to spend the whole night with you! Are you-are you sure, Xiaoyou?"  
She nod shyly, "I'm sure,"  
Her shy, blushing face is driving Ximen crazy in his head.  
"So.. um, do you want to stay over at my house?"  
"Where are your parents now?"  
"Beijing..."  
"Then, okay..." she nod.  
"Xiaoyou, I need to ask... are you thinking what I think you're thinking we're gonna do or do I misinterpret this...?"  
Xiaoyou laughed, "Ximen, I'm not as innocent as you think!"  
Ximen chuckled, "I'm just making sure, I don't want to be disappointed later,"  
They kissed again while giggling into each other's mouth.

"Excuse me! It's closing time!" the guard warned them for the second time.

They were surprised and ran toward the garden's exit and all the way to the exit gate. They looked at each other once in awhile and were laughing at their own silliness.

They stopped running after they were out of the exit gate. 

Ximen looked up to the gate, then he put his arms around Xiaoyou's waist.  
"Xiaoyou... let's go to the water towns together on your birthday every year," he stared deeply into her eyes.  
"What..? Ximen... I..."  
"This way, we can do something meaningful on your birthday even though we don't celebrate it.... in memories of your father, too...."  
Xiaoyou felt touched with his idea, "Ximen..." she caressed his arms.  
"I've finally witnessed your strong bond with your late father, with my own eyes today, I'm really moved... I know how important he was for you... I know I'm nothing compared to your father,"  
Xiaoyou nod over and over, "Yes, you're nothing..."  
"And I can't replace him,"  
She shook her head, "You can't replace him,"  
"But... I'm confident that I can make the princess happy," he held her waist tightly.  
Xiaoyou giggled.  
"Sooo... what do you think?"  
Xiaoyou nod and smile, "I'd love that,"  
"That's a deal... this means we have to be together every year,"  
"You said it yourself, Xi Men Yan! No going back on your words!"  
"Are you underestimating me? I'm a man of my words,"  
She chuckled, "I trust you,"  
"May I kiss my princess now?" he raised one of his eyebrows.  
"Mmh..." Xiaoyou pretend to give it a thought.  
Ximen is impatient and getting closer to her face.  
"Princess haven't given you permission yet!" she giggled.  
"Princess Xiaoyou, please let me kiss you,"  
She giggled and nod, "Okay, come here,"  
They kissed each other deeply. 

Then, Prince Ximen and Princess Xiaoyou lives happily ever after... 

...not really... because life ahead is always full of problems...

THE END

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading and for your comments, lovelies!! I appreciated it a lot! It was so much fun writing this fanfic!


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